Come Back Again
by Mai Kusakabe
Summary: When member of the Strawhat Pirates Marco the Phoenix becomes known to the world, Whitebeard leaves everything to go see his long lost son. It's unfortunate the world can't stop running in the meantime.
1. Prologue

I have been working on this story for quite some time now. It's a long one, so long I'm not even giving a chapter count, but after some thinking I've decided to divide the plot in seasons, so to speak, to make it easier to work on it. Season 1 is completed, and it will be posted from May 20th to August 6th. Most of the chapters are short, but the updates will be every three days, so there is that.

This story comes with accompanying art, courtesy of the wonderful FoxMii :) (foxmii dot deviantart dot com)

This is the cover art for the fic: foxmii dot deviantart dot com/art/Come-Back-Again-Cover-745484695

And at the bottom AN you can find a piece for this prologue.

* * *

 **Prologue**

Crocus sat on his deck chair, set by the water outside of his home at the Twin Cape, waiting patiently for some fish to catch the bait when the first piece of broken wood drifted before him on the water. He looked up and sideways, towards the unblocked current descending into the Grand Line from all four Blue Seas. Sure enough, the current was spilling out broken wood, fragments of metal, and other things Crocus didn't want to pay too close attention to. He raised his gaze higher to avoid focusing on a drifting hand and caught sight of a bright blue spot descending parallel to the water current, straight towards him.

He didn't move, but kept his eyes on the spot. It soon grew into a bright blue bird that appeared to be made out of fire.

 _Now why does that seem familiar?_ Crocus wondered, but before he could think more about it the bird was above the rocks that formed the cape and had transformed into a person.

A boy, a mere teenager, stood before him, looking bedraggled and slightly in shock.

"Are you okay?" Crocus asked, more to break the silence than for any other reason given how obvious the answer was, and he stood up to approach the boy.

* * *

The boy, Marco, wasn't in as a bad of a condition as Crocus had first feared. He wasn't injured, and, while shocked, he wasn't emotionally devastated either.

As Marco explained while Crocus fixed him a meal, the ship he had been on had suffered some damage as it entered the Reverse Mountain from West Blue, and it had pretty much disintegrated when it was propelled up at the top of the mountain. Marco, who had a devil fruit power that allowed him to fly, had managed to escape the wreckage before it fell back into the water or against the rocks, but he hadn't been able to get anyone else out. The ship had been a merchant one, and Marco had just joined the crew at the last island before the Grand Line, earlier that morning, which had spared him the emotional suffering of losing any loved ones, even if he was still affected by the deaths that had just happened.

"What will you do now?" Crocus asked, setting a plate with some fish and rice before Marco. He sat down across the table with his own meal. "I suppose you could always fly back home. That's one useful power you have there."

"I… don't want to go back," Marco admitted, glancing down at his plate. "I want to travel the Grand Line, that's why I boarded that ship in the first place."

"Suit yourself then," Crocus said with a shrug. "Most ships that enter this sea make at least a quick stop here, you could always wait to find a crew you like. However," Crocus pointed his fork at Marco, "you'll have to work while you stay here; this isn't a hotel."

Marco smiled in gratitude, the first real expression to cross his face.

"Thank you."

"Now eat," Crocus ordered, doing so himself.

He spent most of the meal sneaking glances up at Marco. The kid reminded him of someone, but Crocus couldn't put his finger on just who it was.

* * *

The Twin Cape was an interesting place. It was calm enough, but at the same time the weather was completely unpredictable and whimsical. Marco had heard about the weather in the Grand Line, and yet he had to admit he hadn't been prepared for this level of instability. If it wasn't for his powers and the immunity to temperature they provided him, he would probably have frozen to death the one time the temperature had dropped from summer-warmth to cold-enough-to-snow in ten minutes while he was perched on an outcrop halfway up the entrance channel.

Crocus was a pretty nice guy who had many interesting stories to share about the crews that had been through here. Amongst them was the story of the Rumbar Pirates and Laboon, the giant whale that lived at the Cape. Sometimes, Marco almost felt as though he understood Laboon's suffering and his denial to accept that his friends were gone, which made absolutely no sense because Marco's parents and friends were all back at his home island. Sure, they hadn't been happy when Marco had finally decided to act on his desire to go to sea, but he hadn't _lost_ them either (even if there had been some yelling and threats of disowning him if he set foot on that merchant ship). And yet sometimes Marco felt as if he had lost… someone, he just didn't know who. It was odd. He missed something, but he didn't know what it was. It had always been like that, and it had been that feeling that had sent him to sea, despite his parents' insistence that all he needed to do to get rid of that strange loneliness was to choose a job and find a nice girl to settle with.

That kind of life had never appealed to Marco.

He had told Crocus about this feeling on the third day of his stay, and instead of dismissing it as a youthful yearning that would pass with age, Crocus had told him that the sea called out to some people, and it was fine to heed that call.

Marco found it a bit funny that the first person to just accept how he felt was an old man in a lonely cape who didn't know the first thing about him.

As for the work Crocus had mentioned, it was nothing hard to do. Mainly, Crocus asked him to keep the place reasonably clean when he went into Laboon to treat his injuries. Because Laboon had been bashing his head against the Red Line for years now, and he was too large to be treated from the outside.

So far, two ships had come into the Grand Line since Marco's arrival, both of them pirate crews. Neither of them had stuck around even long enough to set foot on the Cape, simply stopping to choose a route before leaving. Marco didn't mind, he knew from Crocus' stories that it was only a matter of time before some ship needed repairs after an eventful entrance, and then Marco would have a crew to judge and decide whether he liked it or not.

On the seventh day since Marco's arrival to the Twin Cape, the Strawhat Pirates entered the Grand Line.

* * *

Hope you're interested. Here's the art I mentioned above :D

Foxmii dot deviantart dot com/art/Come-Back-Again-Prologue-745345351

You can find me on tumblr (maisstories dot tumblr dot com), where I post about my writing, anything from updates, to whining about writing, to occasional comments of what I'm working on.


	2. The Enies Lobby Incident, Part I

I'm really happy to see this story has raised some interest :D

Now we move on to the plot itself. Let's see what you think ^^

* * *

 **The Enies Lobby Incident, Part I**

When Edward Newgate entered the mess hall that morning, he did it to the sound of laughter and cheers.

"Did I miss something?" he asked Izo after picking up his breakfast, sitting on his usual seat.

Izo snorted in amusement.

"Sort of. Remember that article a couple days ago about Ace's little brother and his crew destroying Enies Lobby?"

Newgate grinned.

"Oh, yes, I do." He had been kind of impressed by the news. That had been a daring move for a rookie still in Paradise. Ace hadn't been kidding, that kid was really on the competition to become the Pirate King. Destroying Enies Lobby was certainly a stunt Roger would have pulled off without a second thought. The crew _had_ been cheering on and off to Ace's little brother for three days. And they missed Ace, really. Newgate would have loved to see his reaction to the news. He remembered the wide grin on Ace's face when his brother's first wanted poster had come out; Newgate could only imagine how much prouder he must be after this.

Still, Newgate was very curious about the incident, because the article from a few days ago had been suspiciously vague where it came to concrete information. He suspected the government had a good deal of facts to edit about whatever had truly happened at Enies Lobby before releasing more information for the public to see.

Izo grinned back and turned the newspaper, with a new headline about Enies Lobby, around.

"Wanted posters are out."

"It's a pity Ace isn't here," Namur said, repeating the words that had been heard a lot these past few days, as he looked at his own copy of the newspaper. "I'd love to see his reaction to this," he added, pointing at a wanted poster. One with Ace's little brother grinning in that picture that didn't fit at all the purpose it had been taken for.

"You think they've met?" Haruta asked suddenly. "I mean, I doubt Ace would pass up the chance to meet with his little brother now he's gone to Paradise. He's always going on about the kid."

Newgate glanced around the table and noticed that Jozu was uncharacteristically silent, even for him. He had a piece of paper on his hand —not the newspaper— and was staring at it, ignoring everybody around him.

"What's Jozu looking at?"

"Oh, that? It's one of the wanted posters from the kid's crew. I'm not sure why, but it's caught Jozu's attention," Izo replied.

"Do you have it?"

"Sure," Izo said, handing him a stack of posters. "I'm not sure which one it is, but those are all of them."

At the top of the pile was the grinning picture of one Monkey D. Luffy above a bounty of three hundred million beli, a very respectable sum for a rookie still in Paradise. Roronoa Zoro, with a one hundred and twenty million beli bounty, followed, his picture far more serious and fitting for a wanted criminal. Newgate put that poster aside on top of Luffy's, looked down again, and froze.

" _What sort of pirate wants his crew to be his family?"_

" _I don't need your help."_

" _Are you trying to get yourself killed? I had it under control, old man!"_

" _Hey, don't you dare die on me now old man!_ Pops _!"_

" _I know it's the captain who chooses who to accept into the crew and all that, but if you keep bringing kids in I'm going to keep part of the treasure as payment for babysitting."_

" _Thatch may be a nuisance and a little shit, but he's my little shit of a baby brother. I'm not letting him die. I'm coming too."_

" _You_ had _to go and blow the entire mountain up, didn't you? We can't have you at the same island as Roger, you're a pair of crazy show-offs."_

" _Oi, Pops, look! They sent an entire fleet all for ourselves!"_

" _You know, next time you assholes get drunk like that, I'm taking pictures. And they'll go straight to the newspaper."_

" _This family is getting too large, maybe we should consider some kind of organization system."_

" _P-Pop…s…? Y-You're okay…"_

"Pops?" Izo asked, sounding worried. He leaned closer to him. "Are you okay? Your face went all white."

Newgate ignored Izo's question and turned to Jozu instead. Jozu was looking at him now, his face deadly serious and missing as much color as Izo had implied that Newgate's own face did.

"Tell me I'm not seeing things," Newgate asked, his voice barely a ghost of what it usually was.

"If you are, so am I," Jozu replied soberly.

Nodding, Newgate looked at the pile of wanted posters again.

In the picture on the top one, a teenager that couldn't be older than eighteen was smirking cockily, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as if he was thinking what his next move would be. His light hair —blond, it was blond, even if the poor coloring of the picture didn't show it— was matted with what seemed to be either dust or ash, and a column of smoke blocked out most of the background behind him.

The very same brat whose picture greeted him every morning from his nightstand looked up at him out of a newly-released wanted poster, his face as young as the time he accused Newgate of trying to start a daycare on their ship.

And, above a bounty of one hundred million beli, a name and an epithet confirmed both Newgate's greatest hope and worst fear.

 _Marco the Phoenix._

Marco, his first son, who was indeed alive and well again.

Marco, who had decided to become a pirate once more.

And Marco, whom someone was certain enough of having recognized as well to have given him the very same epithet from so many years ago.

"Jozu, I have to go on a trip. You're in charge of the crew until I come back."

* * *

As always, you can find me on tumblr: maisstories dot tumblr dot com.


	3. The Enies Lobby Incident, Part II

I love reading all the theories and speculations about what is going on here :) I won't be saying anything, as one of the plotlines in this arc is meant to answer all those questions. Do keep the speculations coming, they're great :D

This part has accompanying art. You can find it at the bottom of the chapter :)

* * *

 **The Enies Lobby Incident, Part II**

"What the hell did just happen?" demanded Izo, whirling on Jozu the moment Pops' boat disappeared from sight.

Because that was the thing: after saying he was leaving, Pops had paused just long enough to ask Jozu to call ahead and have a coated ship and provisions waiting for him. Then he had grabbed some food and water from the mess hall itself and left before anyone could do more than blink. He hadn't even taken any of his medication with him.

Jozu stared at Izo for a moment, his gaze an unnerving mix of determination, sadness, and relief, before offering him the wanted poster he had been staring at for most of breakfast.

Izo accepted it, by now aware that this poster had caused the event that had his siblings muttering to each other in confusion.

Marco the Phoenix, one hundred million beli bounty.

It wasn't bad at all for a kid in Paradise who wasn't even the captain of the crew, but Izo still didn't see anything special about the kid.

"Doesn't he look familiar?" Jozu asked, his voice strangely low. By now, they had the full attention of everybody present.

Izo looked closer at the picture. Now that Jozu mentioned it…

"I think I might have seen his face before. Why?"

"Follow me."

Nonplussed, Izo walked behind Jozu back into the mess hall, many of their siblings trailing after them, until they stopped before Pops' stack of wanted posters on the bounties' wall.

No, not Pops' stack, Izo realized with a jolt, the one next to it. The stack that hadn't been updated in over thirty years. The stack belonging to the older brother they had all heard about but so few of the current crew had met. The first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates.

 _Marco the Phoenix._

Izo's head snapped down so quickly that his neck hurt. Behind him, he could hear movement as many people reached for the wanted posters strewn all over the mess hall.

"You can't be serious…"

"The phoenix fruit," Jozu started as though he hadn't heard Izo, "is an odd one. Unlike the other fruits, it doesn't regenerate when the user dies. The user _is_ a phoenix, you see, and as such is reborn along with the fruit. Only that nobody knows when or where, and it's an entirely new life, devoid of memories. A fresh start. We learned about this by chance, and it became a joke in the crew… until it wasn't a joke anymore." The only reason Izo even made out those last words was because he was standing right next to Jozu. He doubted that, despite the silence that had fallen during Jozu's explanation, anybody else in the mess hall had heard him.

He even doubted that Jozu remembered he wasn't alone in the room. He was staring intently at the stack of Marco's wanted posters.

"Well then," Izo said, successfully drawing Jozu back to the present, "he has a new bounty now, doesn't he?" He offered Jozu Marco's wanted poster.

Jozu smiled gratefully and accepted the poster. Izo pretended he hadn't noticed the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes.

* * *

And here is Marco's wanted poster, by the great FoxMii :D foxmii dot deviantart dot com/art/Come-Back-Again-Chapter-1-2-745345304


	4. Sabaody Archipelago, Part I

**Sabaody Archipelago, Part I**

It had been years since Edward Newgate had felt the need to sail a ship all on his own, but he knew how to do it even through the most treacherous waters of the New World. Marco had made sure that he could, drilling every lesson into his head with sharp haki-imbued kicks if he thought them necessary necessary.

Ironically enough, many of those lessons had taken place under the sea level, in the dangerous path that communicated Paradise and the New World through Fishman Island. Usually, whenever he crossed this part of the sea, Newgate would stop at Fishman Island for a visit with his friends there, but he wouldn't risk losing that precious time now. He most likely had a few days of margin, but that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

Water Seven was one of the route islands in Paradise closest to Sabaody Archipelago, and it was only a matter of days before the Strawhat Pirates reached it. Even if they had to wait a few days once at the archipelago to have their ship coated, Newgate didn't know how fast their ship was, or how good their navigator was (was it Marco? Did he even _know_ how to navigate this time around?), and thus he didn't know how much time he had to get there.

While reaching Sabaody wasn't much of a challenge, entering it _was_. As proud as Newgate was of his family and their symbols, he didn't want to attract the marines' attention. Not here, not to his son. As such, he had to avoid being recognized. He had changed the ship's sails for unmarked ones, removed the pirate flag from the top of the ship's mast, put his trademark coat in storage and had thrown a shirt on to cover the tattoo on his back.

Despite all of this, his face was still a very recognizable one, which was why he decided to get the ship straight into the lawless areas and as close to grove thirteen as he could manage. The less he had to move around on foot, the better.

Luck was on his side, because he reached his destination without any incidents, but inside the bar there was only Shakky.

"Well, this is a surprise," she said with a smile that said it very much wasn't a surprise to see him. "What can I do for you?" she asked, leaning forward on the counter.

"What's the strongest drink you have?" Newgate asked, suddenly overwhelmed by the enormity of what was about to happen. His nurses were going to kill him. If not for disregarding his medication and heading out before they could notice what he was doing, then for getting completely wasted at some point during this trip.

Maybe Marco could take those pictures now.

"Something that'd most likely blow a normal person's liver up. This isn't a reputable bar," Shakky replied, gesturing at the largest sofa available.

"That sounds perfect," Newgate said, and he sat down heavily.

Shakky moved behind the bar for a minute before walking out with a decently-sized tankard for Newgate and a standard-sized one for herself. She dragged a chair over and sat down across from him.

"I was right, then?"

Newgate nodded, not at all surprised that Shakky had made the connection, and downed half of his tankard. Whatever it was, it burned all the way down and anchored him to the here and now; it reminded him that, this time, he wasn't dreaming.

"Where's Rayleigh?" he asked after a short silence.

Shakky shrugged.

"He's been away for some six months. I imagine he'll come back when he has nothing left to bet with."

Newgate nodded. _That_ wasn't a surprise either. He wondered if Rayleigh had read the newspaper lately. Probably not.

"So," Shakky started, "do you want to know the situation at the archipelago?"

"Yes."

She leaned back on her chair and took a sip of her drink.

"Currently, there are twelve rookies with bounties of or above one hundred million beli on Paradise, and all of them are expected to coincide here in the upcoming days. Only some have arrived so far, and the Strawhat Pirates aren't amongst them."

Newgate sagged down, relieved that he had really made it in time.

"Your kid's chosen an interesting crew to join. Again," Shakky said with a smile. "I like them, I think I might even become their fan."

Newgate chuckled.

"Yeah, Marco would never join a lousy pirate crew."

"He joined you," Shakky pointed out teasingly, and Newgate laughed.

"That took some time. He tried to kick my ass more than once first."

"Well, then, what are you going to do now?" Shakky asked, and something in her tone made Newgate pause. It was far too serious for her to be asking if he intended to stay here until Marco arrived.

"Do about what?"

Shakky sighed and shook her head.

"You haven't looked at a single newspaper since you learned about Marco, have you?"

She stood up without waiting for a response and went behind the bar. There, she rummaged a little before pulling out a newspaper.

When she set it on the table before him, Newgate felt all of his blood drain from his face.

Ace had been captured.

"I need a safe den den mushi."

* * *

 **Notes:**

Some people asked about Ace and Thatch. Well, I'm afraid Thatch did die, and Ace went after Teach. Marco's absence made no difference in Ace's trip through Paradise, and Banaro Island happened just like in canon.

On a side note, given how old Shakky is (she's been retired for forty years and was a strong enough pirate to have Garp after her), I have this headcanon that she knows the Whitebeard Pirates. So, here, have some pirate friendship :)

And, speaking of pirate friendship, here's a piece of art for this chapter :D foxmii dot deviantart dot com/art/Come-Back-Again-Chapter-2-1-745345222


	5. Sabaody Archipelago, Part II

Phew, I almost couldn't update today (Well, technically it's already Sunday, so I'm late, but shhhh)

Anyway, not much to say here. Though I'm really enjoying the speculations and worry over certain characters so far. Oh, wait. There is one thing I'd like to clear now, though: I've been asked about Teach knowing of Marco, and I want to say now that he doesn't. Sure, he's heard of the crew's first mate like everyone else in the WB Pirates, but he never cared about a dead man. Teach was 38 pre-timeskip, so he was a little kid when Marco died here and thus never met him in person. He did see Marco at Jaya, but only when he went after the Going Merry, and there Marco was just one of the many unknown faces in the Strawhat Pirates.

* * *

 **Sabaody Archipelago, Part II**

It might seem odd to some, but Marco's new wanted poster had become a sort of talisman for those who had known him in the past, even more so now that the news of Ace's capture had come out. Pops had been right in being worried. Shit, _Shanks_ had been right in dropping by to ask Pops to order Ace to come back, even if it turned out that Ace had already been captured by then. But Pops couldn't simply tell Shanks that he had already done everything he could short of tying Ace up to stop him from going after Teach. Maybe they _should_ have tied Ace up after all.

Anyway, Pops had just called. He had finally made it to Sabaody and learned of Ace's capture. He was at Shakky's bar now, which in Vista's opinion made for a perfect place to gather information on the marines' movements at Paradise, and his orders had been simple but expected: contact everyone, every single ally they had who was willing to go to war.

Because there would be war, or so Pops had assured Vista.

Pops was certain that it was only a matter of days before the government announced Ace's execution (Vista wasn't so sure, because an execution meant a full out war with the Whitebeard Pirates, and that was a dangerous move for the World Government to make, but he trusted Pops' instincts), and he wanted everybody ready to move. Pops had ordered Vista to have all of their ships coated and ready to cross into Paradise the moment Pops gave the order, and he had outlined a pretty interesting strategy to enter the Marineford bay unhindered.

Shakky had been with Pops, providing all the information she had on the marines' current movements, and as Vista listened to her words he understood that Pops was right.

War was coming.

Marine officers had been called from all corners of the world, with barely enough exceptions to have all other marine bases functioning, and a large number of marine ships were headed to Marineford right now. There were even rumors saying that the Shichibukai had been summoned.

Izo was calling Fishman Island right now to check this rumor.

Pops would have the ship he had taken with him coated and wait for them at Sabaody.

That was when Vista had asked about Marco. Was he already at Sabaody? No. And what about the Strawhat Pirates? What would happen with them? Because if half the stories Ace had told them were true —forget that, if half the _rumors_ about Enies Lobby were true— then there was no way that Ace's little brother would stand back and do nothing while the marines attempted to execute Ace. Hell, if Marco was half the reckless little shit he had been as a teenager last time around there was no way that he wouldn't follow his captain straight into Marineford if necessary.

Vista glanced at the wanted poster then.

Forget any ifs. Marco had already followed his captain into at least one insane and by all means suicidal battle, there was no way he wouldn't do it again. And Pops had said the Strawhat Pirates were expected at Sabaody any day now. They had to keep them into account.

Vista reached out and brushed his thumb over Marco's smirking face. He didn't want to lose his brother so soon after learning that he was back.

Shit, he didn't want to lose _any_ of his brothers.

The door burst open and Izo entered with a grim expression.

"Jinbe has been arrested for refusing to go to war against us."

 _Fuck._


	6. The Tenryuubito Incident, Part I

**The Tenryuubito Incident, Part I**

Truthfully, Silvers Rayleigh despised human auction houses and everything they stood for. However, he had long ago learned that there were some battles one couldn't fight on their own, no matter how strong they were. So he accepted this dark side of the world as a necessary evil for now and waited for the day when it could be eradicated for good. If Shanks' words and faith were to be believed, it wouldn't take too long now.

Besides, today might prove to be interesting. Rayleigh hadn't missed Whitebeard's arrival on Sabaody a few days ago, that guy's presence was just too strong and easy to recognize, but unfortunately by then Rayleigh had already bet his own freedom away. He just hoped Whitebeard would stick around long enough for Rayleigh to steal some money and get away from this place, because he would love the chance to catch up with him.

The auction house was packed by now, and the first few unfortunate souls that had been captured had been already sold into a lifetime of slavery. The mermaid was trembling, terrified, inside the water tank she had been forced into, and Rayleigh was practicing his long-since acquired skill of ignoring the deeper implications of this place when something made him pause.

A new group of people had entered the auction house, a small but decently strong one. Seven beings, he noticed when he paid closer attention. And it was one of them that had drawn his attention despite his best efforts to disconnect from his surroundings.

A smirk pulled at Rayleigh's lips.

It had been _years_ since he had sensed that particular presence, and yet some presences were impossible to forget no matter how much time passed. Oh, Rayleigh had known he would be back at some point, Whitebeard had shared that story one day he had gotten particularly drunk, but Rayleigh hadn't expected he would ever meet him again.

Marco the Phoenix was at the spectators' area of the human auction house, and Rayleigh was suddenly convinced that things wouldn't go as expected. Marco was nowhere near as strong as he had been by the end (in fact, Rayleigh would bet the money he was about to steal that Marco was at around the same level that he had been the first time they had met), but he had never been, nor would he ever be, the sort of person to walk into an auction house out of interest or curiosity. Which meant he had another reason to be here.

And it sure as hell wasn't a coincidence that Whitebeard was at Sabaody for the first time in years at the same time that Marco was.

"Well," Rayleigh muttered to himself, "it seems I missed something important."

"What are you going on about, old man?" the giant sitting next to him asked.

Rayleigh's smirk grew.

"Oh, nothing, just that things are about to get really interesting," he said, and took a long drink from his flask.

* * *

Mere minutes afterwards, chaos broke outside.

The moment all the guards rushed out of the prison area, Rayleigh freed himself and the giant, took some money from one of the nearby offices, and they walked into the auction area itself.

It was mayhem out there. Rayleigh knocked out a Tenryuubito who had been about to shoot the mermaid prisoner, noticed Hachi's presence (and he was injured pretty badly, damn it), knocked every enemy out and finally identified the source of the chaos.

The Strawhat Pirates.

And, by the looks of it, Marco was actually part of the crew. Rayleigh wanted to burst out laughing, he wanted to talk to Marco, he wanted to talk to Monkey D. Luffy, but there wasn't time for any of that. Instead, he freed the mermaid and urged the Strawhat Pirates and the other pirates present at the auction house to get out of there.

It was an exhilarating experience. It had been years since Rayleigh had been in a good, old-fashioned brawl with the marines, and while he didn't take an active part in it, he did enjoy himself a lot.

Unfortunately, the fact that three Tenryuubito had been knocked out during the mess meant that an admiral was on his way to Sabaody, and they didn't have much time to talk. While Rayleigh told the Strawhats exactly who he was after they got Hachi safely back to Shakky's bar, there wasn't time for much more, so he set out to start coating their ship. He would keep his focus on the crew, though, because while Shanks would be understandably mad if anything happened to Luffy, Whitebeard would kill Rayleigh if something happened to Marco.


	7. The Tenryuubito Incident, Part II

I know I was supposed to post this chapter yesterday, but internet didn't work all afternoon, so... blame the weather. For some reason, the moment there's a storm in the area, internet stops working.

* * *

 **The Tenryuubito Incident, Part II**

As enjoyable as Shakky's company was, there was only so much time that Newgate could spend cooped up in a building, especially while he was organizing an attack and rescue operation. Shakky helped him disguise his appearance to a greater extent —she assured him that nobody glanced twice at hooded people in the lawless areas of Sabaody— and Newgate decided to leave his far too well known bisento behind. It wasn't as if he couldn't beat the crap out of anyone around here easily. Sans Rayleigh, who would pose a challenge as usual, but it had been a long time since they had been enemies.

Newgate wandered around, managed to get a look at some of the promising rookies currently at Sabaody, and kept in constant contact with his children to set everything up. All of their allies had assembled by now, and they had started coating their ships already. It was a matter of days, two at most according to Haruta's estimations, before their fleet was ready to descend towards Fishman Island. He kept his attention out for Rayleigh's presence —who was at the lawless areas but didn't seem to be moving much— but for now he hadn't decided to go meet him, and he also looked out for Marco.

Marco, that was a complicated issue.

Despite his rush to get to the archipelago and his eagerness to find him, Newgate didn't have the slightest idea of how to approach Marco. How did you tell a kid that in a past life he had been your beloved son and first mate and you would like to have him in your life again? And, what was more, how did you tell him this without making it look as if you wanted to drag him away from his current crew? Because Marco was very loyal, and if he had been willing to risk his life the way he had at Enies Lobby Newgate had no doubt that he truly loved his current crew. Newgate didn't want to take Marco away from people he loved, and he knew that Marco wouldn't let him. If Marco was even half as stubborn as he had been before, he wouldn't care at all about Newgate's status as the strongest man in the world.

Newgate had just put away the two den den mushi when a news coo approached him. That was odd, because today's newspaper had already been delivered this morning, and he didn't hesitate before buying a copy.

His blood froze.

Ace had been officially sentenced to a public execution in ten days' time.

Newgate pulled the den den mushis out again and called the Moby Dick. He didn't know if they had received the news already, but this announcement set a more defined outline for their actions.

He spent the next twenty minutes on the line, and when he finally climbed down from the hidden spot halfway up a mangrove that he had found for his conversations with his children, he found the archipelago in chaos.

People were running all over the place in a full-out panic, their words mixing in a way that made it impossible for Newgate to discern anything they were yelling. Whatever had happened, it was _big_ , and after spotting the third pirate crew in so many minutes running in a frenzy towards the harbor, Newgate decided enough was enough and grabbed the closest person by the arm.

"What's going on?"

"W-What?" The man blinked, staring at Newgate as though he couldn't believe his question for a moment before shaking himself back to the present. "What's going on?! Strawhat Luffy punched a Tenryuubito, that's what's going on!" the man yelled, and he tried to free himself from Newgate's hold to no avail.

Newgate's first impulse was to laugh — _that_ was definitely something he could expect from the crazy little brother Ace liked to talk so much about— but his more practical side took over before he could. An attack on a Tenryuubito meant that a marine admiral would be sent to deal with the perpetrators. With the Strawhat Pirates. With _Marco_.

Marine Headquarters was practically next door and all the admirals were bound to be there due to the preparations for the upcoming war.

"Where?" Newgate demanded, and whatever his tone was like, it made the man he was holding pale.

"G-Grove one," the man stammered out.

Newgate let go of him and took off in that direction, pushing as quickly as he could through the throng of people trying to get as far from that grove as they could.

He scanned the area with his haki, as far and as carefully as he could manage, but the panic emanating from every direction made it hard to locate individual presences. It was a miracle he hadn't sensed the chaos before, but Newgate's own worry over Ace must have overridden it.

Newgate threw caution to the wind and decided to cross through part of the hotel area of Sabaody, because that path would take him to grove one faster than winding solely through the lawless areas. He didn't sense Marco's presence as he approached, though, even as the crowds started to thin, not until he was crossing grove five and realized that Marco wasn't in grove one anymore. No, he was at another area, precisely the one that had been Newgate's headquarters here for the first few days, and he was in the company of none other than Rayleigh and Shakky.

Newgate couldn't hold back a laugh. It figured that Marco had managed to meet Rayleigh in the middle of this mess.

Relieved to know that Marco had some reliable backup with him, Newgate kept on his way to grove one, intent on catching the first marine he found to learn who, exactly, the marines had sent to deal with the Strawhat Pirates.


	8. The Defeat of the Strawhat Pirates

So, I intended to post this yesterday to go back to the original update plan and end the posting on August 6th. Didn't feel like it, though.

I have to say, my enthusiasm for posting this story has decreased considerably. Here is why: the proportion of followers to actual comments is fucking abysmal. Now, I know all about that supposed concept of writing for the sake of writing, which is bullshit as any number of posts and comments from fanfic authors have tried to get across over the years. Because, the thing is, according to that, there is no reason to post. If we write for the sake of writing, then once the writing is done there is no reason to post the result, right? We already have what we want. Posting something, especially putting in the effort to keep to a schedule, and then getting barely no answers when we can see people DO read it... well, that's damn disappointing.

And I don't care how salty this came across. I'm in a bad mood, especially after I just revised this story's stats on both pages.

So, there. Here you have the longest chapter so far. Enjoy, I guess.

* * *

 **The Defeat of the Strawhat Pirates**

Marco was panting, holding himself up against the bark of a mangrove. Whatever that Kuma lookalike had been, fighting him had pushed Marco's endurance enough that he was actually tired from the battle, and he was the only member of the crew who wasn't sporting any noticeable injury.

Which wasn't good at all, because now they had some weirdo with a broadaxe _and_ a second Kuma lookalike to worry about.

 _What the hell is going on here?_

These guys weren't Kuma, they didn't have that odd devil fruit power from Thriller Bark for the crew to worry about, but they were no weaklings either.

"We have to run!" Luffy yelled, clearly as aware as everyone else that they couldn't win this fight. Their only chance to survive for three days was to hide.

"I'm going with Zoro," Marco said before anyone else could divide them in groups.

"I don't need looking after!" Zoro yelled at him, but Marco ignored him. Everybody who had been conscious at Thriller Bark —and Marco was still berating himself for having been trapped under that fucking mountain of rubble— had noticed that Zoro still hadn't recovered from the wounds from back then.

"Okay! Sanji and I will take the other groups!" Luffy yelled, and they all dashed off in different directions.

Usopp and Brook came with them, and Marco exchanged a look with Brook, aware that Brook had witnessed the events from Thriller Bark as well.

"Everyone, meet back at the Sunny in three days!" Luffy yelled, and Marco was glad that Rayleigh would move the Sunny elsewhere, otherwise the marines could ambush them at the ship.

If they even managed to escape this grove.

Marco had a moment to curse under his breath when he realized that the Kuma lookalike had gone for Sanji's group and the axe guy had gone after Luffy's before something tickled at his senses. He turned his head just in time to see Zoro being pierced by a beam of light.

"What the—? Who the hell are you?!" Usopp yelled.

"Who the fuck are you?" Marco demanded at the same time of the person standing before them. As the smoke from the attack cleared, he could see it was a very tall man wearing a marine coat on his shoulders.

 _Another one, fuck._

And then Robin yelled that the man was an admiral. _Kizaru_.

"Usopp, Brook, get Zoro out of here!" Marco shouted, dropping into a fighting stance. He had no chance in hell against an admiral, but he should be able to buy the others some time.

"What?! Don't be an idiot!" Usopp yelled at him.

"It's useless," Kizaru said in an irritatingly singsong voice that grated on Marco's nerves, "It's too late for him. A bounty of one hundred and twenty million beli, Pirate Hunter Zoro…" Kizaru started, raising his leg. Light gathered on his foot, a clear preparation for another beam. "He must have been really—"

"Get Zoro!" Marco repeated, charging forward as blue flames erupted all over his body.

Kizaru must not have been expecting someone to rush straight into his attack, for he staggered back just a little bit. Marco's fire grew, absorbing the attack that sent a shock of pain through his whole body despite his regenerating ability, and it took him a moment to steady himself on his feet again.

Despite their earlier complaints, Usopp and Brook followed his order and took advantage of the momentary distraction to grab Zoro and run in the opposite direction.

"Weeell," Kizaru spoke, "that's an interesting power you have there. Very fitting, Marco the Phoenix."

Marco smirked with a confidence he didn't feel.

"Yeah, tough luck for you, I guess."

"Is it though? I wonder if you can handle a stronger attack," Kizaru said, raising his leg again, and Marco felt goose bumps rise all over his skin. There was something off, something _really off_ , about the light gathering on Kizaru's foot now.

Marco braced himself, and this time transformed completely. He wasn't moving, he _couldn't_ move and let this guy through.

At the precise moment that Kizaru shot, Marco found himself pushed back and then Rayleigh was there, standing over him with his own foot raised. Kizaru's attack was deflected to one side, away from the battlefield.

 _How…?_ Marco thought, his body going back to his human form.

Kizaru recognized Rayleigh, of course he did, and Rayleigh didn't sound as though a wave of pain had just shaken his entire body when he replied.

Marco stood there, staring in confusion as Kizaru and Rayleigh pretty much bantered as old acquaintances (then again they probably were, weren't they? Kizaru must have been a marine for a long time if he was an admiral) until Luffy yelled for him to run.

Marco turned and did exactly that, heeding Luffy's order that their main priority now was to get away from here. Luffy was right, there was no way in hell they could win this. Even with Rayleigh holding Kizaru back, they still had two other ridiculously powerful enemies to worry about.

They were severely outclassed here.

And it soon became clear that getting away wouldn't be so easy. Axe guy sent the Kuma lookalike after Zoro, but Sanji went to stop him before Marco could. Besides, now Sanji was closer to Zoro anyway, and Luffy was fighting axe guy alone —or, more accurately, attempting to flee from him— so that was where Marco went. He transformed fully, flew as fast as he could, half-transformed his body back to human, and dropped a kick on axe guy's head. Or, at least, that was what he tried to do. Somehow, despite being so focused on Luffy and despite Marco's speed (which had increased noticeably during the Enies Lobby mess), axe guy reacted in time to block Marco's leg with his forearm, and it felt like kicking a steel beam. If not for his regenerative powers, Marco might have broken his leg.

Jumping back, Marco landed next to Luffy.

"What the fuck is wrong with this guy?"

"No idea, but it's like being hit by Gramps!" Luffy said, and that wasn't good, given _who_ Luffy's grandfather was.

"SANJI!" Chopper yelled, and Marco turned in time to see Sanji slam against Usopp and Zoro.

 _Fucking shit!_

And then Chopper was off, pulling out a rumble ball. His third one. Marco hadn't been at the Justice Tower at Enies Lobby at the time, he had flown straight to the bridge to intercept Spandam and Robin, but he had heard the story of how Chopper had lost control and transformed into a giant rampaging monster.

"Robin!" Marco yelled, pausing for a moment as Luffy launched another attack at axe guy. "Go over there, I got Luffy's back!" Because, Marco realized, Robin's attacks and brain would be of more help with the cyborg than in this battle.

She glanced at him for a moment before nodding and running after Chopper. Marco saw Robin's arms pull the others out of the path of Chopper's rampage before he turned back to his own fight.

Luffy crashed to the ground after one of axe guy's hits, and Marco jumped forward, this time to kick him with a talon instead of his human foot. Axe guy blocked him, an annoyed expression on his face, and Marco didn't move fast enough to dodge his punch. It didn't leave a mark, but it hurt where the fist hit despite the fire's appearance. It was nowhere near as bad as Kizaru's attack, but it was painful all the same. Not even the CP9 had managed to cause him pain back at Water Seven.

Marco staggered as he landed on his feet, panting more heavily than before.

 _What the hell is wrong with these guys?_

"Wait, PX-1," a voice cut through the battle, one that Marco remembered well.

 _Another one?_ He wondered, turning to see a third Kuma standing across the second one, Usopp's group trapped in the middle.

"Fuck…"

And then, before anyone could do more than panic or stare, this third Kuma made Zoro disappear.

 _What…?_

Marco realized that this was the real Kuma, the paws on his palms proved as much, and the marines weren't glad to see him here.

"Oi, what did you do to Zoro?! Where is he?!" Luffy yelled, trying and failing to stand up.

At axe guy's explanation —Zoro would be flying for three days? But his wounds were too severe! And what was that about how he could be anywhere in the world?— Marco tensed, looking around.

"Luffy…" Marco started, watching as Sanji attempted to stand up.

"I know." The Kuma lookalike tried to attack, only for the real Kuma to make him disappear as well. Luffy dragged himself to his knees. "Guys, run! Get out of here! We'll think about what to do later!"

Axe guy seemed to shake himself out of whatever anger he felt at Kuma's actions, but for once Marco was faster. He transformed and grabbed Luffy with his talons. If nothing else, at least the guy didn't seem to be able to fly.

"Brook!" Usopp yelled, and Marco looked back at the group. In the time it had taken him to get Luffy away from axe guy, Brook had vanished.

"Brook!" Luffy yelled as well. "Damn it! Marco, put me down! We gotta help!"

Sure as hell they had to. There would be nobody left to flee at this rate. Marco aimed for the closest cleared space where he could set Luffy down without injuring him further —because Luffy couldn't take much more damage at this point. As Marco descended, Sanji attempted to kick Kuma, and while he wasn't successful, at least he wasn't sent away either.

Marco set Luffy down, and in those few seconds Kuma made Usopp disappear.

Marco rushed forward, and so did Sanji. Sanji got there first, and then he wasn't there anymore. Marco managed to dodge Kuma's hand and land a kick that by all accounts didn't seem to hurt Kuma at all.

He expected to disappear, but instead it was Kuma who was no longer there.

Marco looked around and saw Kuma had appeared next to Rayleigh and Kizaru, but whatever was being said was beyond him.

And then Luffy charged at Kuma, but Kuma disappeared again, this time to show up right before Franky and Nami. Marco transformed, knowing he would get there faster flying, but all he managed to do was catch Luffy —who had tried to attack Kuma and got pushed away— before he could crash anywhere. Marco was shoved back from the impact, but he hit something that wasn't hard-packed earth or rough tree bark.

Franky was gone.

"Well, this is quite the mess you have going on here."

The battlefield, if it could be called that at this point, froze, and Marco turned his head to see just who had caught them.

"W-Whitebeard?!" axe guy exclaimed, even more shocked than when Rayleigh had appeared.

Because the man currently holding both Marco and Luffy in his hands was none other than Whitebeard himself.

Whitebeard looked around, and his eyes soon fell on Rayleigh and Kizaru.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Rayleigh? I see you're busy."

Rayleigh shrugged.

"I got my hands a bit full, as you can see."

"Anything I can help you with?"

Marco wasn't sure, but he thought Rayleigh's eyes darted around quickly for a moment before meeting Whitebeard's again.

"You could keep those two safe."

Marco could feel Whitebeard shrug.

And then, as if they had just snapped out of a strange bubble of calmness, things were back on. Kuma moved, for some reason disregarding the fact that Whitebeard could crush him easily, and charged at Nami.

"NAMI!" Luffy and Marco yelled, both of them lunging forward, but for some reason Whitebeard didn't release them.

"Let go, you old geezer!" Luffy yelled, trying to get past Whitebeard's large fingers. Marco attempted to transform and jump into the air, but Whitebeard's large fingers clamped down on his wings, holding him in place.

And then Nami was gone.

Kuma appeared before Robin next, but Chopper charged at him, as if wanting to protect her despite his seemingly mindless state. It was useless, because Kuma just vanished both of them and Marco could do nothing but watch helplessly. Luffy was still trying to free himself, even going so far as to attempt a Gear Third he didn't have the energy left to pull off.

Silence fell on the grove.

* * *

 **AN:**

Well, that's it. This is kind of the actual introductory chapter.

We have art for this chapter, too. Here it is: foxmii dot deviantart dot com/art/Chapter-4-Marco-745345419


	9. Kuma's Actions, Part I

I'm happy to see my rant last chapter had an effect :) Thank you to everybody who commented, it helped raise my mood ^^

Now we're moving into the AU proper. We're back to short chapters, too. Last update was an exception, mainly because I didn't find any point I liked to divide it.

* * *

 **Kuma's Actions, Part I**

"What the hell do you think you're doing, old geezer?!" Ace's little brother —Luffy, best to start thinking of him by his name— yelled, still trapped by Newgate's hands. "WE COULD'VE HELPED THEM!"

"Really? How?" Newgate asked, and he didn't mean it in a cruel or mocking manner. Both Marco and Luffy were exhausted, clearly on the verge of passing out had they not been so worked up by everything that had just happened. "You can't even stand on your own."

"Maybe. But _you_ could have helped them," Marco said, his voice cold, and it was like a stab to the heart. This was the first time Marco had spoken to him in thirty years, and his words were an accusation.

And the worst part was that Marco was right. Newgate _could_ have saved those three, if only Rayleigh hadn't made it clear that he shouldn't intervene. Which begged the question of why Rayleigh had done it in the first place.

Newgate looked at Rayleigh.

The marines and Kuma were gone now, after Kizaru had admitted that if Newgate was to intervene they were too outclassed to capture the remaining Strawhat Pirates, and Newgate could sense their presences groves away from their position.

"It's something Kuma said," Rayleigh replied, and both Marco and Luffy turned to look at him. "He said that he was a member of the Revolutionary Army, and that he wanted to help your crew get away from the island," he addressed this last part to Marco and Luffy.

"The Revolutionary Army?" Marco asked, surprised.

"Why's that familiar?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side.

Marco sighed in that long-suffering way that Newgate had missed for so long. He didn't bother to hide his smile; neither Marco nor Luffy were looking at him.

"Don't you remember what your grandfather said? Your dad's the leader of the Revolutionary Army," Marco said.

Newgate blinked, caught completely off guard. _Dragon_ was Luffy's father? And G _arp's son_? Newgate would laugh about the hilarity of the second one later, but for now he was too busy being astonished by the fact that, somehow, Ace and Luffy had found each other and become brothers.

 _Talk about fate_.

"You mean the bear guy was helping us?" Luffy asked, surprised.

"Maybe," Marco replied. "What he did _was_ odd, if you think about it. And the axe guy looked about ready to go fight him instead of us."

And then, to Newgate's surprise, Luffy laughed.

"That means they're okay?" he asked in such a relieved way that his mood was contagious.

"They should be," Rayleigh replied. "I had the impression he was sincere about wanting to help you. That's why I agreed."

"Okay! That's good, they'll come back then!"

A pensive look crossed Rayleigh's face then, and Newgate knew he was debating on something.

"Anyway, we should go back to Shakky's. The marines won't come after you now that they know we're here, but they'll be around for a few hours still," Rayleigh said at last.

"What about the Sunny?" Marco asked suddenly.

"Don't worry about it. Duval and his men are guarding it."

"Okay. Put us down, old guy," Luffy half-asked, looking up at Newgate.

Newgate held back a chuckle. Not only was Luffy recklessly rude, but Marco shook his head in a way that indicated this was very much the norm with Luffy, and Rayleigh laughed.

"No way. You two will fall on your faces if you try to walk." That was Newgate's response, but the truth was that he didn't want to let go of Marco so soon. He had his son sitting safely on his hand, and he wanted to keep him there for as long as possible.


	10. Kuma's Actions, Part II

**Kuma's Actions, Part II**

When Rayleigh returned to the bar not even half an hour after he had left, he wasn't alone. Whitebeard was with him, and so were Luffy and Marco, but there was no trace of any other member of the Strawhat Pirates. Shakky had been worried about the Strawhats' chances of escaping an admiral, and it was clear now that something had gone very wrong.

Rayleigh walked in first, followed by Whitebeard, who had to crouch down really low to pass through the doorway. He was holding Luffy and Marco, and the two looked far worse than they had when they left.

"Luffy! Marco!" Camie exclaimed, moving closer to the door on the couch. "Are you okay? Where are the others?"

Luffy glanced aside, an angry expression crossing his face for a moment, but it was Marco who replied.

"We're not sure."

Whitebeard glanced around the bar, from Hachi still covered in bandages on the bed to Camie's mermaid tail. He then nodded to himself, no doubt connecting them to the incident with the Tenryuubito. Funnily enough, it was then that they realized just who Whitebeard was, because Camie and Pappug let out surprised shrieks while Hachi made an attempt to sit up that ended with him groaning in pain.

Rayleigh laughed.

"No need to react like that, he's just an old friend." He turned to Whitebeard. "You should drop the kids on the couch. I'm pretty sure they're hungry after that fight."

Luffy perked up visibly at the mention of food, and Whitebeard shook his head in amusement. He did put them down, though, Luffy next to Camie and Marco next to Luffy. Unsurprisingly, Whitebeard took a seat on Marco's other side. Shakky turned around to hide a smile, moving to look for whatever food was left after Luffy's other two visits today. She knew Whitebeard couldn't have told Marco the truth in as little time as had passed, and she wondered how much Marco would notice before they had a chance to talk.

"So, what happened?" she asked.

* * *

"…I see," Shakky said finally. She was inclined to believe in Rayleigh's assessment of Kuma's intentions, but it was a troublesome situation all the same. Who knew how long it would take for some of the Strawhat Pirates to return to Sabaody, and then there was the issue of how clearly outclassed they had been in that fight. She glanced at Rayleigh. She had noticed his pensive looks more than once. "What's on your mind?"

Rayleigh closed his eyes for a moment and smiled.

"You know me too well." Opening his eyes again, he focused on Luffy and Marco, who were done eating (Luffy had polished off most of the food, but he had left some for Marco, who'd only had to punch him twice). "Tell me, after what just happened, do you believe that you are ready to face the New World?"

Luffy tensed, and Marco frowned.

"We'll have to, won't we?"

Rayleigh glanced at Whitebeard before focusing on Marco and Luffy again.

"Maybe not. I am not sure how this could be done right now, but I have a proposal."

* * *

There was silence once Rayleigh was done explaining his idea. Luffy and Marco exchanged a look.

"Exactly how many of those Kuma lookalikes are out there?" Marco asked.

"I'm not sure," Shakky replied. She had been surprised to hear that Kizaru had brought Pacifistas with him (though she wasn't surprised to learn the government had waited until they were ready to announce Ace's execution). "But I don't think they are your biggest worry. Any pirate crew worth their salt out in the New World would be able to take one of them out with no trouble. In fact," she smiled and looked at Whitebeard, "I'm sure Whitebeard here could take all of them out easily."

"WHAT?!" Luffy yelled, jumping to his feet. " _You're_ Whitebeard?! Ace's captain?!"

Shakky blinked, surprised that Luffy hadn't known. Not recognizing Rayleigh was one thing, he had been in hiding for over twenty years and believed dead by many, but _Whitebeard_? Rayleigh burst out laughing, Whitebeard raised his eyebrows, and Marco rolled his eyes.

"So you really hadn't noticed," Marco said with a complete lack of surprise.

Shakky chuckled. That was one interesting little crew.

"But how do we tell the others?" Luffy asked, going back to the previous topic as if nothing odd had happened.

"That's what I haven't figured out," Rayleigh said, and looked at Whitebeard. "Any ideas?"

Whitebeard shrugged.

"Beats me. I guess you brats don't have den den mushis, do you?"

Marco shook his head.


	11. Kuma's Actions, Part III

I apologize for the delay. Some shit went down in real life and it completely slipped my mind that I had to update this story.

* * *

 **Kuma's Actions, Part III**

Marco noticed Whitebeard tense next to him, and Rayleigh glanced to the door.

"Well, looks like we might get some answers," Rayleigh said out of nowhere, and stood up. Whitebeard did, too, and they walked to the door. Curious, Marco followed them, Shakky moving at a more sedate pace. Luffy jumped to his feet and bounced to the door.

"What's—?" he heard Camie start to ask, but Luffy's voice drowned whatever she was saying.

"OI! Where's my crew?"

Luffy demanded, shooting forward. Whitebeard reached out to stop him, and Marco hurried up, certain of who he would find outside the bar.

Bartholomew Kuma stood there, his expression as stoic as Marco had ever seen since encountering him at Thriller Bark.

"Your crewmembers are alive," Kuma said simply.

"I know that! Bring them back!" Luffy demanded, struggling against Whitebeard's hold on him.

"I can't do that," Kuma said.

"Then why are you here?" Rayleigh asked.

"I came to give a proper explanation of my actions earlier."

"You won't try to send the kids away, will you?" Whitebeard asked, and Marco thought his tone was a little too hostile for the circumstances.

"There is no point, the marines won't be able to arrest them now."

 _Wait, send?_

"Oi!" Marco said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "You said you can't bring the others back, but can you send them something?"

Kuma stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly.

Rayleigh grinned.

"Good thinking."

* * *

Unsurprisingly, once he was assured that Kuma really worked for his father and had come to save their crew, Luffy had decided that he didn't care about the details. Marco didn't, either, if he was honest, not when he had something more important to do.

"That's not fair," Luffy whined for the… whatever time it was already. "I'm the captain, I should be the one writing that."

"Yeah, well, they're supposed to be able to _read_ them. Just draw the flags at the bottom, will you?"

"I already did," Luffy said, holding up the five letters he had been working on. Between Marco's handwriting and Luffy's horrid rendering of their flag, nobody could doubt that they had really been the ones to write the letters. Luffy had even added some comments of his own, and Marco decided he didn't want to know what they said.

Marco placed the letter to Zoro in front of Luffy. It was the longest one, but given how much of a hothead Zoro was, he would need a good deal of reassurances to rest and recover from all the injuries he had been pretending weren't bothering him since Thriller Bark. Not to mention Kizaru's attack. Marco couldn't imagine how much damage that had done if one of those beams had hurt even him.

Once the letters were all written, Marco took them and walked up to Kuma. It might be a little reckless on his part to interrupt a conversation between a Yonko, the Dark King, and a Shichibukai, but Marco's usually negligible self-preservation instinct had decided to go take a nap back at the auction house.

"Okay, so this one's for Zoro," he said, handing Kuma the right letter. "I don't suppose you can make it hit him on the head, can you? He'll probably try to do something stupid as soon as he lands."

For some reason, that made Whitebeard laugh.

One by one, Kuma sent all the letters after the members of the crew. It would take the guys three days to read them, as the letters would arrive not long after they had landed, but Kuma said the letters would fall on the person, and not the place where said person originally landed, so at least Marco was assured that they would receive them.

Kuma didn't take long to leave after that, and his parting words were disconcerting to say the least.

"This is the last time I'll see any of you. I won't be really there at the war."

"What war?" Luffy asked after the door to the bar had closed.

* * *

 **AN:**

You know, I liked Kuma before. Now I fucking love him.


	12. Preparing for an Execution, Part I

Unsurprisingly, it turns out I suck at keeping to steady updates even when said updates are already written. I guess this means we'll have updates throughout summer.

* * *

 **Preparing for an Execution, Part 1**

Rayleigh watched Luffy freeze when Shakky said that Portgas D. Ace, Whitebeard's Second Division Commander, had been sentenced to be executed in ten days. Well, it seemed that Rayleigh had truly missed a lot of information during his latest gambling spree. He would make sure to keep up with the news from now on, even after selling himself off.

"Ace is…?" Luffy started, but trailed off. Then, for some reason, he turned on Whitebeard. "That can't happen!"

"Of course not," Whitebeard said. "I've already started preparations; I won't let the marines execute Ace."

Luffy nodded.

"I'm coming," he said gravely.

Rayleigh raised an eyebrow, surprised by that declaration, and glanced at Shakky. She shook her head, clearly as much at a loss as he was.

"No. This is beyond your level."

"I don't care! I'm not staying back while Ace is in trouble!"

"Your entire crew just lost against a single admiral, you can't expect to fight the marines' strongest," Whitebeard said, curiously reasonable. Rayleigh would expect Whitebeard to be bothered by anyone who made him waste his time when one of his children was in danger, but for some reason he seemed more understanding than anything else.

Rayleigh was clearly missing something here.

"I don't care! I'll save Ace!"

"You won't change his mind. We'll go whether you want us to or not," Marco said, cutting whatever response Whitebeard had been about to deliver.

Whitebeard looked at Marco, and Rayleigh knew he didn't imagine the terror that flashed in Whitebeard's eyes for just a moment. Finally, he sighed.

"Stubborn little brats. You'd better not get in the way."

" _You_ don't get in the way," Luffy shot back.

Whitebeard chuckled, sounding amused despite himself, and sat down on the couch heavily enough to make it creak.

"What did I miss here?" Rayleigh asked once the argument was settled.

"This brat," Whitebeard said, pointing at Luffy, "is Ace's little brother. And he's just as stubborn as Ace."

 _Oh, that explains it_.

"What's your plan?" Marco asked. Rayleigh held back a fond smile. He had heard that question in that same voice before, many years ago. It brought back memories.

Judging by the way Whitebeard looked at Marco, Rayleigh wasn't the only one remembering old times.

"We've assembled all of our allies, and our ships are mostly coated by now. A day, maybe two, and they'll be ready to cross through Fishman Island. We'll attack Marineford and stop the execution before it can happen."

"What?!" Luffy yelled, and he lunged forward. "You want to _wait_?!" For a moment, he looked ready to disregard all common sense and punch Whitebeard.

"I don't _want_ to wait, but it's the best option."

"Is it?" Marco asked, and he didn't wait for an answer. "I know Impel Down is supposed to be impenetrable and all of that, but wouldn't it make more sense to assault the prison than to wait until the very day of the execution?"

"And risk the guards killing Ace before we can get all the way down there? That's too dangerous," Whitebeard argued.

"It doesn't seem more dangerous than waiting until Ace is up at the scaffold surrounded by the marines' strongest. They could decide to kill him ahead of schedule if it looks like you're winning."

Whitebeard stared at Marco, and Marco held his gaze steadily. Rayleigh knew that, had anyone else questioned his plan, Whitebeard wouldn't have even considered their words. But this was _Marco_ , and even if Marco himself didn't know it, Whitebeard was incapable of dismissing anything he said without giving it proper thought.

"Then what do you propose we do, brat?"

"Think about it. I don't know the details, not really, but if your crew still isn't ready to cross through Fishman Island, why don't you take the time to think about both possibilities and see which one works better?"

Whitebeard stayed silent, his eyes still on Marco, and while he would seem mostly serious and foreboding to the untrained eye, Rayleigh could see the longing on his face. Rayleigh knew that look, it was the same one that crossed his own face whenever he wondered how things would have been like had Roger been there at a certain moment.

Right now, Rayleigh couldn't help thinking that Whitebeard was a lucky bastard.

"I'll go make a few calls," Whitebeard said finally. He stood up. "You two don't go anywhere; this place is still full of marines."

Whitebeard glanced at Rayleigh, waited for his nod, and left.

"You should rest," Rayleigh told Marco and Luffy. "Whatever he decides to do about Ace —and whatever you two decide to do— won't be immediate. Right now you have a battle to recover from. You won't be taking on any marine strongholds in that state."


	13. Preparing for an Execution, Part II

…Well, I'm back. As if to prove that I'm unable to post on a regular schedule, my internet decided that it'd be great to stop working on the day after the last update. I got it back on Friday. LAST Friday.

The date I wanted to have the first arc of this story all posted has passed, so I'm setting a new one. If nothing goes wrong, I'll post the last chapter on Marco's birthday.

This chapter comes with an art piece by FoxMii, which you can find at the bottom :D

* * *

 **Preparing for an Execution, Part II**

Marco helped Shakky carry a mountain of blankets and pillows to the room where the bed Hachi was resting on at the bar now had been. Luffy was silent next to him, something that would be odd under different circumstances.

This was Enies Lobby all over again, only that this time they didn't have the rest of the crew with them and their enemies weren't just an elite group of assassins and a few thousand average soldiers (Marco bit back a mirthless chuckle: who would've told him yesterday that he'd think assaulting Enies Lobby had been e _asy_?). And yet, Marco knew one thing for certain: if Luffy decided that he didn't like Whitebeard's plan, Marco would go with him. They had the Sunny and Nami's maps, and Marco had been curious enough about the ship to join Franky and Usopp a few times to learn about its many features.

"Hey, Shakky," Marco asked once he had dumped the bedding on the floor, "do you mind if I borrow the newspaper?"

"Are you trying to learn about the marines' movements?" she asked, amused, and yet Marco was sure she wasn't mocking him. Not even indulging him.

"Yeah."

"I have some information on them aside from what's on the papers, if you want a look at it too," she offered, and chuckled when Marco only blinked. "Information is power, Marco, and you can learn a lot of things if you know where to look."

* * *

When Marco returned to the guest room with the folders that Shakky had lent him, he found Luffy had turned the bedding into a blanket fortress and was curled inside it.

Marco sat down next to Luffy's head and smacked him with the folders.

"Stop brooding, will you? We'll get him out."

"I know," Luffy said. "I won't let Ace die."

Marco grinned, glad to hear the same conviction in Luffy's voice than when he had announced they would save Robin. He had been worried, but Luffy was fine.

"Then why are you in a bad mood?"

Luffy turned around to look at him, one of his rare serious expressions on his face.

"Ace really cares about that old guy," he said simply, and Marco understood.

"I think the old man also cares about Ace. He's preparing an army to save him, after all. But nobody's perfect." Marco shrugged. "Who knows, maybe they don't have any ships that can get into the Calm Belt."

"What's the Calm Belt got to do with anything?"

Marco snorted, unsurprised by Luffy's lack of information.

"Impel Down is in the Calm Belt."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna check on it," he explained, showing Luffy Shakky's folders, "and see how things are before we decide on anything, okay? Try to stay calm for a couple days. The Whitebeard Pirates _are_ the strongest pirate crew in the world, Ace's chances will be much better with them on board."

Luffy frowned, then tilted his head sideways on the pillow, his neck at such an odd angle that anyone not made of rubber would've snapped it.

"And if the old guy still wants to wait for the execution?"

"Then we take the Sunny. I think it can go into the Calm Belt with what Franky put on it."

* * *

Despite his worry, Luffy had fallen asleep as easily as ever. Marco didn't feel like sleeping yet, and he could go for long periods of time without sleep anyway, so he lit most of his body up and started reading.

Impel Down was… well, he understood why people called it Hell. And Spandam had wanted to send Franky there. The asshole had gotten off easy; Robin should have done more than break most of his bones. Officially, it had five levels, but Shakky's underworld sources were reasonably certain that the rumor of a level six was true. If it was, then Ace was bound to be there. The prison had some impressive staff and security inside, plus standard marine security outside that had no doubt been increased for the occasion.

And yet, reading about the admirals and vice admirals that would be present at Marineford, Marco still saw the odds of freeing Ace at Impel Down as their best option.

The main problem, however, was that there was no way of infiltrating the prison undetected, at least none that Shakky had ever heard of, and none that Marco could think of with the information he had.

Marco glanced down at Luffy.

A rampage, maybe.

Draw everybody's attention to the upper levels, but keep some cards up their sleeves. Keep the strongest people out of the battle until they had drawn out all of the main guards to fight. Then, if everybody joined the fight, there would be no one free to give the order to execute Ace once it became clear that the pirates would get through the prison's security. From what Marco had read, the Impel Down guards were too scared of Magellan's power to risk making such a decision on their own.

But they would need the Whitebeard Pirates _and_ a considerable amount of luck to pull that off.

And if Whitebeard kept to his plan it would be only Marco and Luffy.

Being underestimated would be their best option in that case, and yet Marco knew the security would be very challenging for just the two of them.

Groaning, Marco pulled at his hair and dropped back on the blankets.

He was going to fry his brain at this rate.

Impenetrable prison indeed. He couldn't think of a way to pull this off.

Sure, he was used to going into situations without any plan, and improvisation was their crew's specialty, but the problem here was that they had to ensure the guards wouldn't decide to execute Ace ahead of schedule if they thought they might manage to reach him.

Marco pushed the files to one side and turned around, burying his face into a pillow.

Luffy snored.

 _Well, that's a good suggestion_.

Sleep, disconnect, then think again.

He could wait and see if Whitebeard had changed his mind, or if he knew anything else about Impel Down that could be of use…

 _Disconnect, damn it. Go to sleep_.

* * *

And here we have the link to the art! Remember to piece it together (really, really hate ffnet's insistence on blocking links): deviantart dot com/foxmii/art/Come-Back-Again-Chapter-6-2-749555763


	14. Preparing for an Execution, Part III

**Preparing for an Execution, Part III**

"Impel Down?" Vista wondered. "Why do you ask about that?"

Everybody in the mess hall had come to lean around the table —or as close to it as they could get; this was dinner time after all— when Pops had called. After asking for the fleet's current status, he had sprung that question on them out of nowhere.

"It's just… we haven't considered that option, have we? What do we know about that place?"

"I'm not sure," Izo replied. "We'd have to look into it."

"But what does it matter? We already have a plan," Fossa added, absentmindedly spinning his fork.

They had debated on all the details, calculated how long it would take the ships to reach Marineford through the bottom of the sea, and given all the pertinent instructions to their allies. This sudden change made no sense.

"I had a conversation, and there were some very good points about how assaulting Impel Down might be safer for Ace than waiting for the execution."

Vista raised his eyebrows. That was unexpected. While it had never been explicitly stated, they were going to war to remind the world that nobody messed with their crew. And also, as more than one person had muttered darkly, because the Shichibukai had been summoned and that meant they could get their hands on Teach and kill him once and for all.

"Who made these points? Rayleigh?" Jozu asked. Pops was staying at Rayleigh's place, after all, and the guy could be sensible from time to time, as odd as it was to associate that concept with Roger's right hand man.

Pops took a moment to answer.

"No," he said, but didn't elaborate.

"Who, then?"

"Marco."

There was a pause before everybody started to talk at once. Vista grabbed the den den mushi's speaker.

"You've met him?!" he asked, yelling to be heard over the din.

Everybody fell silent at his question.

"Just now, yes," Pops said, and Vista couldn't say what emotions tinged his voice. Probably the same mess Vista himself was feeling. "And Ace's little brother, too."

"Let me guess," Izo said evenly, with the easy calm of someone who hadn't had his world thrown off balance again just now, "the brat _really_ is as reckless as Ace always says and he wants to save Ace himself."

Pops laughed, though he didn't sound very amused.

"That, and he thinks that waiting for the execution is not an option. Marco agrees with him."

"Shit," Vista said after a long silence. He took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair.

"You know," someone started at the back, "right now I'm not sure if I'm glad to know Marco is as reckless as you guys always said or if I want to punch him."

Vista had a flashback to that time Marco had charged through a marine base, _alone_ , because the rest of them had managed to fall into a trap and got themselves captured.

Damn, he was glad to know his brother was at least in part the same, but he wanted to punch him too.

"We'll look into it," Jozu said finally. "Maybe he does have a point: the admirals, at the very least, are bound to be at Marineford until the execution."


	15. Preparing for an Execution, Part IV

**Preparing for an Execution, Part IV**

"You don't seem particularly surprised," Kizaru said after a short pause in which Sengoku didn't say a word.

Sengoku leaned back on his chair and sighed, running a hand down his face.

"That's because I'm not. I didn't expect Whitebeard to run off to Paradise, but other than that…" Sengoku waved a hand dismissively. When he had seen that picture, days before Portgas D. Ace's capture, he had known it was just a matter of time before Whitebeard tracked down the Strawhat Pirates. His money had actually been on Whitebeard waiting for them at Fishman Island before the news of Ace's capture had reached him.

Sengoku had hoped to be wrong when he first saw that picture, of course he had; the idea of having _him_ with Monkey D. Luffy of all people was unsettling to say the least. Now it was clear that he hadn't been mistaken.

"Oh?" Kizaru asked, bringing Sengoku back to the present. "May I ask why it isn't a surprise that Whitebeard helped those rookies?"

"You mentioned Marco the Phoenix in your report," Sengoku started, opening the bottom drawer of his desk. While he had decided to keep this wanted poster, just in case, he had hoped he would never have to bring it out.

"A very interesting power," Kizaru said, nodding. "I wasn't expecting any of those kids to take one of my attacks standing."

Sengoku sighed.

"Had you not been a haki user, he wouldn't have been fazed by it at all."

"You've run into that devil fruit before, then?"

"More or less," Sengoku confirmed, glancing down at the wanted poster in his hands. That smirk was the same in the new picture. "I know you weren't a marine back then," none of the current admirals had been, that was why they didn't understand how dangerous this could turn out to be, "but have you ever heard about Whitebeard's first mate?"

"Not much. He was supposed to be a terrifying pirate, if I recall correctly."

Sengoku snorted.

"That's a way to put it," he agreed, setting Marco the Phoenix's last wanted poster as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates on the desk before Kizaru.

Kizaru's eyebrows went up on his forehead.

"That's… more than I expected. It was a very long time ago," Kizaru admitted, his eyes fixed on the picture.

Sengoku wondered if Marco had directed that same smirk at Kizaru.

"The Whitebeard Pirates had been around a long time by then. Marco used to fight Silvers Rayleigh when they ran into the Roger Pirates, and I fought him a few times myself. He's no joke."

"I don't doubt that, but isn't he supposed to be dead?"

Sengoku snorted, looking down at the wanted poster. He wasn't sure when he had been more shocked; the time he learned of Marco's death or when he came across that old report on his devil fruit.

"That's a long story. But the Strawhat Pirates are a problem for another day. Whitebeard is our priority now. Him being at Sabaody Archipelago means we can keep a better eye on his movements. Contact the base there, have them locate the ship he arrived on, but tell them they are not to engage him under any circumstances. The last thing we need now is to have our Sabaody outpost destroyed."


	16. Whitebeard's First Son, Part I

**Whitebeard's First Son, Part I**

When Luffy woke up, his first impulse was to yell for Sanji and demand breakfast, but he remembered that Sanji wasn't here before he even opened his mouth.

No, Sanji had been sent away by the bear guy with most of the others, and the only one left now was Marco.

Luffy turned to the side and found Marco asleep. There were a lot of papers thrown all over the floor, because Marco was trying to find the best way to save Ace, one that made more sense than the old guy's plan of waiting until the day of the execution.

Contrary to his nature, Luffy tip-toed out of the room and closed the door carefully. He wanted to let Marco sleep. He walked downstairs, where he found everybody else already eating breakfast. Hachi was sitting on the bed now, and Luffy was happy to see he was doing better.

"Good morning, Luffy. Would you like some breakfast?" Shakky offered, and Luffy hurried over to the table. There wasn't as much food as he would have liked. Shakky chuckled. "Sorry, but you guys have gone through all my food. I'll go buy groceries later."

"Is Marco still asleep?" the old guy, Whitebeard, asked. Luffy had his mouth too full to speak (but Nami wasn't here to punch him for it if he spoke anyway; he didn't speak), so he nodded.

"Makes sense. I gave him everything I have on the marines and Impel Down last night," Shakky explained.

Whitebeard shook his head, but he laughed.

"I'm impressed he went to sleep at all then."

Luffy frowned. He hadn't missed the odd looks Whitebeard had been giving Marco yesterday. Luffy wasn't _worried_ , the looks didn't seem bad and Whitebeard _had_ protected them against the marines, but…

He shook his head. That had nothing to do with him.

And Whitebeard had an unattended plate of meat before him.

Whitebeard burst out laughing when Luffy stole it.

"You're as bad as Ace," he said, and Luffy took it as a compliment. "Also," Whitebeard said after a moment, "I talked to my crew, and they're looking into Impel Down. Marco had some good points."

Luffy grinned.

"Yeah, he's really smart!"

"That he is," Whitebeard said, his voice a bit weird, but Luffy was too excited to care.

 _You just wait, Ace. We're gonna save you._

* * *

Very short, I know, but Luffy is an incredibly difficult character to write.


	17. Whitebeard's First Son, Part II

**Whitebeard's First Son, Part II**

When Marco walked down the stairs, he found the bar more silent than he had expected. Camie, Hachi, and Pappug were there, but he couldn't see anyone else.

"Good morning, Marco!" Camie greeted him with a wide smile. "Shakky left you some breakfast in the fridge."

"Really? Thanks," Marco said, walking straight to it. "Where is everyone?"

He opened the door and was surprised to find a plate of bacon with a label that read 'cook me!' on it. He hadn't expected any meat to survive Luffy's hunger. There were even a couple eggs and half a bottle of juice left.

"Shakky went to buy food, she said that we don't have enough for any more meals." An understatement right there. Aside from Marco's breakfast, the fridge had little more than booze in it. Marco took the food out and started to prepare his breakfast. "Rayleigh went out to check how things are. He said he thinks the marines have left, but he wants to be sure. Luffy was bored, so he went with him. Mister Whitebeard is outside, talking to his crew about Impel Down."

'Mister Whitebeard'. Something in that manner of address made Marco want to snort in amusement, but he had no idea why. He held it back.

Speaking of Whitebeard, though, Marco wanted to talk to him. Despite yesterday's chaos, Marco had noticed some odd things. Like when he had argued Whitebeard's plan: Marco had expected to be either ignored or told that this war was above him. He hadn't expected… whatever the look that had crossed Whitebeard's face had been. Marco couldn't define it, but it had certainly been sad.

And he sure as hell hadn't expected that Whitebeard would actually _agree_ to consider his words.

* * *

Marco found Whitebeard outside, just as Camie had said he would, but he wasn't on the den den mushi anymore.

Whitebeard turned, still sitting, to look at him.

"I see you woke up," Whitebeard greeted him after a slightly too long pause. He sounded almost casual, and yet… not. "My crew is looking into your Impel Down idea."

"I know. Camie told me."

There was a long silence, but Whitebeard didn't take his eyes away from Marco.

"What's your problem with me?" Marco blurted out, and he almost winced right afterwards. This was _Whitebeard_ he was talking to.

 _Way to go, genius_.

Whitebeard blinked.

"I don't have a problem with you."

"No? Then why do you keep staring at me?" Marco didn't bother to berate himself this time; he had never been the most tactful of people, and being part of the Strawhat Pirates certainly hadn't improved that skill.

Whitebeard didn't reply immediately. He stayed silent so long that Marco actually thought he wouldn't reply at all before Whitebeard finally spoke.

"Do you remember how you ate your devil fruit?"

Marco blinked, caught off guard by the random question.

"No," he answered finally.

 _Nobody does_ , he thought with some bitterness.

His parents liked to say that Marco had snuck into a merchant ship as a little kid and ate it without anybody noticing, but that was just a funny cover story for those who asked about his power. The truth was that nobody knew where that power had come from. As far as his parents knew, Marco had been able to regenerate since before he could even crawl, and that had made them wary of him, even if they had always tried their best to hide it from him. That was amongst the reasons Marco had decided to leave, even if it wasn't the main one.

"That's because you didn't eat it," Whitebeard said.

"…What?"

"It's a peculiarity of that devil fruit. While in most cases when a user dies the fruit reappears somewhere nearby, yours is an exception. You're a phoenix, after all, and thus are reborn with the fruit. Even if you don't remember."

Marco was rooted to the ground, too shocked to even pay attention to the fact that Whitebeard's words had been recited as if from memory. Almost like a mantra.

 _What…? How—? That makes no sense! How would…? Oh!_

"You knew the previous user!" Marco said in sudden realization.

 _Wait, wouldn't that be the previous… me?_

Whitebeard closed his eyes.

"More than that," he said in barely a whisper. He then opened his eyes and reached into a pocket. "I asked Shakky if I could borrow this. Mine is back at the Moby Dick." He offered Marco what looked like a wanted poster.

Marco took it and blinked. The man in the picture looked like him, if a few years older, but his eyes fell on the sum below the name.

 _What. The. Hell._

He blinked again. He could count with the fingers of a hand the active bounties he knew that were higher than this one.

"Is this why they gave me that bounty even though I didn't fight anyone in the CP9?" Hell, they had even given him the same moniker.

"I guess so. Sengoku was certainly familiar enough with us back then to have figured it out."

Marco nodded distractedly, his eyes still on the bounty ( _can I really become so strong?_ ), then he registered Whitebeard's words and his head snapped up.

" _Us_?"

That expression was back on Whitebeard's face again.

 _Grief, that is grief_ , Marco thought in sudden realization.

"You were my first son."


	18. Whitebeard's First Son, Part III

Back from my newest boot of low spoons, here I bring a new update. I'll try to post some more this month, see if that helps somewhat.

Art by the fantastic FoxMii at the bottom AN :)

* * *

 **Whitebeard's First Son, Part III**

When Marco said he needed a moment and walked away without waiting for an answer, Newgate couldn't blame him. This was hard enough on Newgate, who had already known everything beforehand, so for Marco, who hadn't…

Newgate would give Marco as much time as he needed.

He turned to the audience they had gained halfway through the conversation. Rayleigh made the sign of all clear —no marines then, that was good— and turned around to go in the same direction as Marco. Whether to talk to him or just to keep an eye on him, Newgate didn't know.

That left Newgate alone with Monkey D. Luffy.

Luffy had a serious expression on his face, one that was very different from the one from yesterday, when he learned of Ace's upcoming execution. It dawned on Newgate that it was harder to get a read on Luffy than the stories he had heard from Ace had led him to believe.

"Marco was in your crew?" Luffy asked, breaking the silence. Newgate nodded, unsure of where this conversation was headed. "So you care about him. Is that why you've been looking at him?"

Newgate sagged, forearms on his knees. Just how obvious had he been that everyone had noticed?

"It's just… hard. I have to reassure myself that he's really here." _That I didn't just dream it again_.

Luffy walked closer and sat next to him. He was so _tiny_. Ace's little brother. Shanks's bet on the future (Newgate would recognize that hat anywhere).

Marco's captain.

"What happened?" Luffy asked, looking up at him.

"What happened when?" Newgate repeated, though he was sure he knew what Luffy meant. He just hoped to be wrong.

"To Marco. He's got that awesome power, and he must've been really strong back then. So what happened? I need to know if I want to avoid it happening again."

Newgate was struck speechless by Luffy's question, his reasoning, his _care_. Marco really couldn't have found a better man to give his loyalty to, could he? The future Pirate King indeed.

"It was a battle." A needless one, one they had walked into because of Newgate's pride. "I was busy with enemies all around, strong ones, the kind of strong you can rarely find outside the New World." Old guilt came crashing down, a companion that had been gnawing at his mind and heart for thirty years. "Then someone attacked me, but I was too busy to block the attack, and Marco did it instead." Newgate remembered it well: four haki-imbued lances piercing through Marco's body, no blue fire to be seen anywhere. _Blood_. He closed his eyes. "I had been too distracted to realize someone had managed to shackle him with kairoseki."

They hadn't been able to remove the shackles on time.

When Newgate opened his eyes, Luffy was still staring up at him with that same serious expression.

"I won't let Marco die."

Newgate surprised himself when he realized that he believed Luffy; he believed Luffy meant his words with everything he had, and that was the best Newgate could ask of him.

No wonder Ace was so proud of Luffy.

Newgate froze.

 _Pride_.

He had lost Marco because of his pride, and it was that same pride that made him choose to go to war at Marineford in the first place.

Marco, bleeding, pierced by an attack he had no way to survive in his state, came back to his mind. And then it was Ace, only that instead of four lances they were only two: the two lances used for executions on the scaffold.

 _Not again,_ Newgate thought, and he was on his feet the next instant. He offered Luffy a hand up.

"Here, let's go."

"Huh? Where?" Luffy asked.

"To call my crew. We have an assault on a prison to plan."

"We're going to Impel Down?!" Luffy asked, grinning widely. He grabbed Newgate's hand and jumped to his feet.

"Yes. Marco was right. It's a bad habit of his," Newgate said, feeling lighter than he had in days.

Luffy laughed.

* * *

And here is the promised art :D www dot deviantart dot com/foxmii/art/Come-Back-Again-Chapter-7-3-748456635


	19. Whitebeard's First Son, Part IV

**Whitebeard's First Son, Part IV**

Marco hadn't gone far. He was sitting on top of one of the giant roots of the nearest mangrove, staring down at the wanted poster Whitebeard had given him. Rayleigh remembered when that wanted poster had come out. Back then, the Roger and Whitebeard Pirates had a friendly competition going on to see who surpassed someone with their new bounties, and Marco's had gone above Rayleigh's that time. Marco had teased him about it at their next meeting, and Rayleigh had replied that he would surpass him with his next bounty. He had, but by then Rayleigh had only felt bitterness over it instead of smugness.

"You know, if the marines were still around, you'd be in danger," Rayleigh said. He hadn't intended to talk to Marco at first, just to keep an eye on him and make sure no bounty hunters took advantage of his distraction, but something prompted him to speak.

"Did you know?" Marco asked, ignoring his words.

"I did. You're impossible to forget," Rayleigh said, walking closer.

Marco glanced away from the wanted poster to look down at Rayleigh.

"Me? Or him?" he asked, gesturing with the poster as he did.

 _Ah._

"I'm not sure there is much of a difference," Rayleigh replied, moving to lean back against the mangrove root, right below Marco. "Memories aside, you're not so different."

"You don't know me," Marco snapped at him.

"I'm not saying you're not your own person," Rayleigh started. "I'm just saying that everything I've seen so far tells me you resemble the rude brat I met so many years ago more than I expected when I first saw you at the auction house. And that's not a bad thing."

"…How did you meet?" Marco asked after a short silence.

If he wanted to separate himself from his past self, Rayleigh would go with it.

"Well, you see, despite the fame both crews have nowadays and how people always relate us, the Roger Pirates had been sailing for a few years by the time the Whitebeard Pirates set sail. So we were a well established crew in the New World and Roger was kind of eager to meet the rookie that'd shaken Paradise so much in barely a few months. The moment we were at the same island that the Whitebeard Pirates for the first time, he practically lunged at Whitebeard. The rest of us were ready for a fight; as you can guess, we didn't expect Whitebeard's crew to take Roger's happy attack on Whitebeard sitting down, but I was surprised by how things went. I'd been expecting to fight Jozu —Diamond Jozu, I imagine you've heard of him— because he was the most intimidating out of the crew. While yo-Marco had a higher bounty, he was a kid barely older than you are now, and his bounty was nowhere near as high as mine at the time. That didn't stop him from charging straight at me and trying to kick my head off." Rayleigh laughed at the memory, remembering how surprised he had been by Marco's skills and how much he had enjoyed that first fight. He looked up at Marco. "Does that sound like anyone you know? Maybe a little brat charging straight at an admiral yesterday?"

That made Marco smile a little.

"I guess it sounds familiar."

"And, besides, you've already proven you'd do anything for the people you love." Not only yesterday, but Rayleigh had heard from Shakky about the Enies Lobby mess last night. "That's something else that hasn't changed."

Marco frowned and glanced back down at the wanted poster.

"But what _does_ change?" he asked, and Rayleigh understood.

"Not as much as you think, I'd say. Whitebeard isn't going to demand you join his crew again." Rayleigh grinned. "I'm pretty sure we all know where you'd tell him to shove the demand despite who he is. He's just…" Here Rayleigh hesitated, unsure of how to express this point. "Well, don't get me wrong, he loves all of his kids, but everybody has their favorites, and Whitebeard lost his favorite son over thirty years ago." Rayleigh glanced down at the grass, remembering one of the many times Whitebeard had gotten drunk enough to get past the happy phase. Rayleigh had felt guilty over Marco's death simply from listening to Whitebeard's words. "He just wants to get to know you, to be there if you ever need him. And I'm pretty sure he'll want you to go train with him these two years after you lot save Ace."

Marco stayed silent, and Rayleigh let him mull over his words.

"You know," Marco said eventually, his voice distant, "ever since I was a kid, I felt as though I was missing something. It was odd: I had a family, friends, and a pretty good life, I should've been satisfied, but I was sure something wasn't right. So, ignoring everybody's advice and warnings, I jumped onto the first ship that would have me, and a week later I met Luffy and the others. And I felt better. I was still missing _something_ , but I felt better, and I'd found an amazing crew." Marco paused, long enough for the silence to be noticeable. "I don't want to be him, I don't want to be the Marco who died so long ago, but would it be selfish if I said I wanted to go with the Whitebeard Pirates, just for a while, but still be a Strawhat Pirate?"

Rayleigh looked up again, took in the way Marco was gazing down at the wanted poster with longing and determination, and laughed.

"Being selfish is part of being a pirate," Rayleigh told him. "And those idiots will want you no matter what you choose to do. You have a very large family of crazy pirates now, even if you still want to follow Luffy all the way through his adventure."


	20. How to Assault Impel Down Part I

**How to Assault Impel Down, Part I**

Luffy's friends (Hachi, Camie, and Pappug) were still too in awe of Newgate to address him directly, but that didn't stop them from yelling at Luffy when Luffy announced they would attack Impel Down with a wide grin.

They might not be related by blood, but Newgate saw a great deal of resemblance between Luffy and Ace just then.

Newgate sat on the couch and pulled out the white den den mushi Shakky had provided him with a few days ago, attached to his usual den den mushi.

"If you kids are done yelling," he said, and laughed at the reactions his comment got: Luffy just turned to look at him, but the other three froze comically, "I talked to my crew earlier, and it seems the marines have only deployed ten battleships to Impel Down. They fully expect the battle to take place at Marineford."

"And that means?" Luffy asked, tilting the upper half of his body sideways on the stool he had claimed.

"It means this guy can breeze past them," Marco said from the door, and Newgate smiled to himself. He had sensed him approaching with Rayleigh, but Newgate hadn't been sure if Marco would enter the bar.

"You're that strong?" Luffy asked, surprised.

"He used to fight it off with Roger," Rayleigh said, and laughed at Luffy's even more surprised reaction.

Then Luffy turned serious and met Newgate's eyes.

"So I have to beat you to become the Pirate King?"

"You don't _have_ to, but there are people nearly as strong as me after that title."

Luffy tilted his head.

"And you? You don't want it?"

Newgate waved a hand dismissively.

"Nah. I already have my dream."

"What's that?" Luffy asked, curious.

Newgate couldn't help but glance at Marco then.

"My family."

He wasn't sure what reaction he had expected from Marco, but for Marco to just _nod_ and walk closer to sit next to him wasn't it.

Newgate could have thrown a party right then. He simply draped an arm across the back of the couch —it took a great deal of self-control not to hug Marco— and set the den den mushis on the table.

Luffy chuckled, but it wasn't the mocking kind of chuckle that Newgate had long ago associated with reactions to his dream; it was an approving laugh. It was odd to realize that Newgate had come to appreciate Luffy's opinion in under a day.

Rayleigh dragged a stool over to the table.

"Let's hear what the mighty Whitebeard Pirates have to say."

Throwing Rayleigh a half-hearted glare, Newgate dialed his crew.

"Oi, Pops!" Haruta greeted before the line could ring a second time. "We weren't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"Yes, well, I just decided we're going for Impel Down after all. A show of strength isn't worth risking Ace more than necessary."

There was a short pause.

"Okay. Wait a sec, I'll take this to the mess hall."

The shuffle of movement and Haruta yelling for everybody to get their asses over to the mess hall filled the line.


	21. How to Assault Impel Down Part II

Okay, so I should have posted this yesterday because I had an exam this morning and wanted some comment-induced cheer to push me through it, but I kind of crashed the moment I arrived home, so... that didn't happen.

* * *

 **How to Assault Impel Down, Part II**

Izo was very much surprised to learn that Pops had agreed to change the plan, but after reviewing the marines' movements he had to admit the idea _had_ some merit.

Everybody expected the battle to take place at Marineford, and it took around three hours to reach Impel Down from Marineford through the Tarai Current, which so happened to be a route easy to block once inside the prison. If they timed things well, they could be in and out of Impel Down before reinforcements arrived.

That didn't do much to diminish Izo's surprise at the fact that Pops _had_ changed his mind in the first place.

"He must value Marco's opinion a lot," he muttered to himself as he took a seat.

"You have no idea." Izo startled and turned around to find Vista standing behind him. "Marco was always the one who could reason with Pops most easily, and now…" Vista shook his head. There was no need for more words.

"Okay, we got enough people here," Haruta said into the speaker. "What's the new plan?"

"That's what we have to work out. We have nine days until the execution, but the marines will undoubtedly move Ace early in the morning, so let's make it eight," Pops said. "We should probably stick to the original idea of approaching underwater, to avoid alerting the marines to our movements."

"How fast do coated ships move?" an unknown male voice asked. Some people around the table tensed up and, seeing who they were, Izo understood that this had to be Marco.

"Ours?" Pops answered. "About as fast as they do above water. We've got plenty of dials to propel them." Pops paused. "Do you know what a dial is?"

"Yeah!" another voice answered enthusiastically. "We went to a sky island." That had to be Ace's little brother. "It was fun!"

Pops chuckled.

"Good. Why did you ask, Marco?"

Many people around the table jumped this time. They must have been too focused on the den den mushi to notice the reactions of the senior members of the crew to figure out Marco's identity when he first spoke.

"Because, according to Shakky's info, it'll take around four days to get to Impel Down from here."

Jozu reached out for the speaker.

"That's not a problem," he said, his voice far less steady than usual. "We'll be set to cross tomorrow."

"Then our main issue is to find a way to stop the guards from carrying out the execution before we can reach Ace," Pops said somberly.


	22. How to Assault Impel Down Part III

**How to Assault Impel Down, Part III**

When Shakky returned to the bar, she did so with her bon chari loaded as heavily as whenever she did an average grocery run for the bar. Inside, she found everybody lounging around, deep in thought. The thoughtful mood was broken the moment Luffy saw her, though.

"Food!" he yelled, jumping down from the stool he had been sitting on and running to her.

Marco jumped out of his seat, too, and stopped him before he could reach the groceries.

"You just ate breakfast," Marco said, holding Luffy down through the expedient method of sitting on him.

"That wasn't enough. And thinking makes me hungry," Luffy whined.

"What were you thinking about?" Shakky asked, crouching down to be at eye level with Luffy. As usual, Rayleigh had obligingly moved to put the groceries away, and Whitebeard decided to help (Shakky wished she had a camera, because that was a comical scene).

"We need to get into the prison without the guards killing Ace," Luffy said, now sullen.

"We can't think of a way to draw Magellan out _without_ him giving the order before coming out," Marco explained. "If Luffy and I charge in first," ("that's not an option," Whitebeard said) "then they won't take us seriously and Magellan won't give the order, but I doubt we can get all the way down to level six on our own. And the moment the Whitebeard Pirates show up the guards will figure out they can't win."

Shakky hummed.

"I might have an idea," she said, and everybody froze for a moment.

"Really?!" Luffy asked, perking up. It was a bit funny how his neck stretched upwards, because he couldn't stand up with Marco still sitting on him.

"It's not a certainty, but… Do you remember how the newspapers said the execution would be broadcasted here on Sabaody?" By the puzzled expressions that answered her, none of them had paid attention to that part of the article. Shakky shook her head. "Anyway, that is the marines' plan. While I was out at town, I overheard that some of the pirates who escaped capture yesterday have returned to the archipelago. I imagine they want to witness the battle. According to my information, there is one pirate that might be able to solve your particular problem," she continued. "I imagine it depends on what you are willing to offer," she said, and looked straight at Whitebeard.

"To save Ace? I'd give almost anything," Whitebeard replied without a second of hesitation. "What's your idea?"

* * *

Shakky ventured back into the lawless areas while the rest ate. She was the only one of their small group that wouldn't draw any unwanted attention by wandering around, and learning the exact location she needed to go was only a matter of beating up a couple bounty hunters here and there.

The yellow submarine wasn't the most inconspicuous ship one could choose, even hidden in one of the many small bays around the lawless areas. Then again, the information she had on its crew didn't speak of a discreet group, though it _was_ a little too bland and average for Shakky's trained eye. Especially after what Rayleigh, Luffy, and Marco had recounted of yesterday's events when Shakky had asked them about the auction house.

Her presence drew the attention of the crew, and while they tensed and fixed their eyes on her, nobody drew a weapon or made an inappropriate comment that would have seen them buried underneath a mangrove.

Trafalgar Law was leaning on the railing of the submarine.


	23. The Pirate King's Son, Part I

**The Pirate King's Son, Part I**

Shakky's bar was closed for the time being, which meant everybody could move freely around it. For some reason, Whitebeard laughed and muttered something about cheeky brats when Shakky returned to talk to him after her conversation with Trafalgar Law, and now she was gone again to settle all the details. Luffy wanted to go, but nobody wanted Luffy anywhere near delicate negotiations, even if those negotiations were with someone who had seemed to like him well enough back during the auction house mess.

So, instead, Luffy was munching on some crackers on the couch. Until his head snapped up suddenly in that manner that indicated he'd just had an idea. Luffy's ideas were dangerous. They sometimes worked, and could even be called genius by the simple fact that nobody would've expected anybody to _dare_ do whatever Luffy planned, but that was precisely the problem with Luffy's ideas: reckless was too soft a word to describe them.

"Hey, old man! Why don't you come too?" Luffy exclaimed, and given that Whitebeard was neck-deep into this rescue operation, Marco guessed he meant Rayleigh.

"Why would I do that? I'm retired," Rayleigh said, though he didn't sound annoyed. He was stating a fact.

"Yeah, but Ace—" Then, for some reason, Luffy slapped both hands over his mouth, as if he had been about to say something he shouldn't.

To make things even more confusing, Whitebeard let out a surprised laugh.

"Of course!" Whitebeard exclaimed. "You really should come, Rayleigh, that'd increase our power attack considerably."

"And what makes you think I'll agree?" Rayleigh said. "I get it's your kid, and that's why I'm helping here, but I'm retired. It's bad enough that Kizaru knows I'm here."

Then Whitebeard looked around, first at Luffy, then at Marco, and finally at Hachi's group. He shook his head.

"Kid's got a point. Ace will try to kill me again for this, but… Ace is my son, yes, but he's also Roger's son."

Marco froze.

 _What…?_

The Pirate King had a son? _Luffy's brother_ , the cocky but polite guy Marco had briefly met at Alabasta, was _Roger's son_?

Marco wasn't the only one who had frozen. Rayleigh was staring at Whitebeard, the glass that had been in his hand now shattered on the floor, and it took him what might have been a full minute to respond. Silence flooded the room during that time.

Rayleigh glanced at Luffy's completely unsurprised face first.

"You're serious? Roger went and had a kid? And he asked _Garp_ to take care of him?" Rayleigh chuckled hollowly and ran a hand down his face.

"He's a good kid," Whitebeard said for some reason.

"I don't doubt it. It's just… He could've told me, you know? I would have been there."

Rayleigh stood up and went for another glass, but seemed to change his mind before picking it and grabbed two full bottles instead. He didn't say anything else, but Marco was sure he would accompany them to Impel Down.


	24. The Pirate King's Son, Part II

**The Pirate King's Son, Part II**

Newgate had suspected that Roger hadn't told Rayleigh about Ace from the very moment that Ace told him who his father was, and when Rayleigh stepped out of the bar with two bottles Newgate left him to it. He guessed Rayleigh needed some time to himself, to mourn what wasn't and what could have been. Newgate had certainly done enough of that kind of mourning himself. For a moment, he wondered how Ace would have turned out if he had grown up here, in this very bar with Rayleigh and Shakky. More confident in himself, that was for sure. Maybe even more reckless. Who knew. Newgate didn't have time for these thoughts now.

He turned to the remaining people in the room. Luffy had clearly already known about Roger, but nobody else had.

"This is a secret," he said, meeting everybody's eyes and waiting for their nods before continuing. "Don't tell anybody. Ace will be mad enough that you know about it."

"Why?" Camie asked, and blushed immediately afterwards. "Why will he be mad, I mean?"

"Ace doesn't like his dad," Luffy said before Newgate could reply.

And really, despite any long explanation that could be given, things boiled down to that: Ace didn't like the fact that he was Roger's son. For some reason, he felt that was a failing of his own that he couldn't fix. Newgate hadn't asked for the details, but he still remembered how sure Ace had been that he would be kicked out of the crew when he had told Newgate he was Roger's son.

Newgate knew, though he hadn't discussed it with anyone —because nobody else knew about it— that Ace being Roger's son was the main reason the World Government was willing to go to war to execute him. He feared that Ace knew, too; he feared that Ace believed he couldn't escape Roger's shadow, that who _he_ was didn't matter.

Maybe he should have asked more about Ace's issues with Roger when he had the chance.

Newgate would make sure to fix that mistake once Ace was back home.

"And he's okay with you wanting to be the Pirate King?" Camie asked, drawing Newgate's attention away from his thoughts and to Luffy.

Luffy grinned.

"It's my dream. That's enough for him."


	25. The Calm Before the Storm, Part I

**The Calm Before the Storm, Part I**

"Hey, Marco," Luffy said that night after they had retreated to the guest room. They were rebuilding the remnants of the blanket fortress that had been demolished the previous night.

"Yeah?" Marco moved some pillows around so they would make a comfortable raised floor.

"How are you doing?" Luffy had stopped yanking on a trapped blanket and started removing the ones on top of it instead.

"What do you mean? I'm fine. Shouldn't I be asking _you_ that?"

Luffy shook his head and lowered his hands.

"I mean about the old guy. I didn't ask with everything about Ace, but how are you with all that?"

Marco stopped moving the pillows and looked up.

"I'm fine. It's… Well, it's hard to explain."

He dropped down on the half-finished fortress, and Luffy followed suit. All their hard work for nothing.

"You know how Whitebeard said I don't remember my past life?" Marco asked after a while. Luffy hummed an affirmative. "I think I sort of do, on a subconscious level."

"You said you wanted adventure. When we met," Luffy said, then he chuckled. "You also said you'd kick our asses if we were scumbags."

Marco smiled, remembering that first meeting.

"I'm glad you weren't. Don't think you'll get rid of me just because I found a long-lost family."

"Like I'd let you go," Luffy said, and they both laughed.

Marco remembered Luffy's insistence when recruiting some of the crewmembers that had come after Marco, and he had heard the others' stories.

"You'll go train with them, won't you?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah. Just like you'll go with Rayleigh. You'll see, we're gonna be strong as fuck in two years."

They fell silent, but Marco wasn't in the mood to sleep. As it turned out, neither was Luffy.

"I wonder how the others are doing," Luffy mumbled.

"They must still be flying," Marco said, remembering the axe guy's words.

"They should be here," Luffy said, his voice approaching a pout.

Marco grabbed a pillow and smacked him on the face with it.

"What was that for?!" Luffy demanded, sitting up.

"Nami would hit you for this whole mess. I'm acting on her behalf."

Marco was ready to dodge the pillows that Luffy threw at him.


	26. The Calm Before the Storm, Part II

**The Calm Before the Storm, Part II**

Newgate found Rayleigh sitting on the steps outside, halfway through his second bottle.

"I'm surprised your liver's still holding up with everything you throw at it."

"You're one to talk," Rayleigh retorted, and Newgate chuckled.

He sat down next to Rayleigh.

"My nurses would agree with you. They've given Shakky a huge list of everything I should and shouldn't take. I forgot to bring my medication."

"Good thing we recruited a doctor, then. You've got to be in top shape to save your kid."

"Yeah," Newgate agreed, looking out at the darkened greenery of the grove. The place was so calm it was hard to believe they were in the middle of the lawless areas. "Speaking of Ace, how are you holding up?"

Rayleigh raised his bottle and finished it off before speaking.

"I'm not sure. For the first time in over twenty years, I'd like to punch Roger. I never thought I'd feel like this again. I mean… _Garp_? I know he's a pretty decent guy for a marine, but still…" Rayleigh trailed off.

"I know. He had a lot of other people to choose from."

They stayed silent for a long time. Rayleigh pulled out his flask to continue drinking.

"He's not going to like you," Newgate warned him. "Ace has a lot of issues when it comes to Roger. I'm pretty sure that's why he tried to kill me."

"He really tried to kill you? I'd heard some rumors, but it's hard to tell which stories are true when it comes to your crew."

"He did," Newgate confirmed, grinning. "And not just once. It took us _months_ to convince him to stop and join the crew instead. He almost left before agreeing."

Rayleigh laughed.

"I can see that. Roger was a stubborn bastard; it figures his son has inherited that trait."

"Ace wouldn't appreciate that comparison."

"Still true," Rayleigh said with a shrug. "What's he like?"


	27. The Calm Before the Storm, Part III

Right. So, I intended to post this chapter before I left off for the summer, but it somehow slipped my mind. I'm sorry.

Anyway, this one is the last chapter in the first arc of this story. Starting next week (and let's hope this time around I'm better at keeping my own schedule) I will start posting the Impel Down arc. It isn't complete, but I have a handful of chapters written. Honestly, that arc promises to be somewhat of a monster.

I hope you guys enjoy it.

* * *

 **The Calm Before the Storm, Part III**

For the past week, Sengoku had subsisted mainly on tea, random snacks he managed to get his hands on, and naps taken on his desk or on the couch when he was fortunate enough to get a respite longer than a few minutes.

This morning had been one of those lucky times, at least until Brannew had come into his office with bad but expected news. The Whitebeard Pirates and their allies had started to head towards Fishman Island. The ships keeping watch over them had sent that information right before they had been attacked. An explosion had been heard over the line and that was it. None of the twenty-three ships watching Whitebeard's fleet were answering the calls.

Sengoku took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That was a known risk," Sengoku said, and tried not to grimace at how callous his words were. They had just lost thousands of soldiers in little more than an instant. "At least we know where they are headed. They should pick Whitebeard up in, what, ten hours?"

"Approximately. It's hard to predict how a fleet of that size will have to advance in order to cross through the waters surrounding Fishman Island."

Sengoku nodded and put his glasses back on.

"What about Whitebeard?"

"No movements. It seems he has remained wherever he is hiding since his confrontation with Admiral Kizaru."

 _With fucking Silvers Rayleigh_ , Sengoku thought, holding back another grimace. That was actually one of Sengoku's main worries right now, even if nobody knew about it; that Whitebeard would somehow manage to convince Rayleigh to help him save Ace.

Rayleigh's presence would tip the scales on Whitebeard's favor considerably.

Sengoku hoped that, instead, Whitebeard decided to ask Rayleigh to watch over Marco while he went to war. There was no way Whitebeard would take Marco, as a rookie pirate with no experience, to the war, much less after having just reunited.

* * *

"One of Whitebeard's ships has emerged next to Sabaody Archipelago, sir," Brannew informed him that evening. "Whitebeard himself has boarded it, and it seems their engineers have started coating the ship again for some reason."

 _Coating it?_

"That son of a bitch!" Sengoku exclaimed, and clenched his hand around his teacup with enough strength to shatter it. Lukewarm tea coated his hand and sprayed all over his desk. "He intends to approach the bay underwater! There's no way we can track when or where he'll show up."

"What do we do, sir?"

Sengoku shook his head.

"Nothing. We can still follow the plan, we'll simply abstain from sending out any scout ships." Not that they would have made a difference. He sighed. "Was there anybody with Whitebeard when he boarded the ship?"

"No, sir."

It was too early to be relieved.

"Keep a close eye on that ship. I want to be informed immediately if _anyone_ boards it, understood?"


	28. On the Way to Hell, Part I

**On the Way to Hell, Part I**

Sabaody Archipelago had no beaches. The roots of the mangroves didn't occupy much space once underwater, instead descending very abruptly towards the sea bottom, and that made any attempts at swimming at the archipelago's coast extremely dangerous.

This particular trait of the archipelago proved to be extremely useful now.

Rayleigh had sat himself on a crate in one of the submarine's storage rooms and watched with some amusement as, once they were informed that they were immediately underneath Whitebeard's ship, Trafalgar Law used that devil fruit of his to transport Whitebeard into the submarine. Fortunately for Whitebeard, the submarine was larger than it appeared on the outside, and he didn't need to slouch awkwardly in order to fit in it. A pity. Rayleigh would have loved to tease him about it.

"The marines have informed headquarters that you boarded the ship," Marco said from another crate. He had a black den den mushi that Shakky had given him on one wrist, and he'd been monitoring the calls from the marines who had been not-so-subtly watching the coast.

"Good," Whitebeard said. "Where's the brat?" he asked, looking around the room.

"Harassing my navigator," Trafalgar answered with a surprising lack of fear or reverence, given who he was talking to. "Now, Miss Shakky gave me a message from your nurses: it seems you forgot your medication on your ship."

Rayleigh couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.

"You gonna go all doctor on him? I'm not missing this," he said with a grin, looking at Whitebeard's face. It seemed that Whitebeard wasn't sure whether to be annoyed by the fact that his nurses had sent _actual instructions_ about his treatment or amused that this kid didn't seem any more afraid of him than Luffy was.

"I'm fine," Whitebeard said predictably.

"You're not," Marco cut him off, drawing everybody's attention to him. "And Shakky asked me to make sure you actually get looked at."

And that, right there, was one of the most underhanded moves Rayleigh had seen in a long time. He didn't know if Shakky had actually thought about that, if it was a suggestion she had been given by the Whitebeard Pirates, or if Marco had just made it up on the spot, but the fact remained that Whitebeard couldn't refuse Marco if Marco outright told him to do something.

That was how Rayleigh found himself walking next to Marco and behind Whitebeard, following Trafalgar Law to a surprisingly complete med bay. It was, incidentally, where their little group would be sleeping for the upcoming nights.


	29. On the Way to Hell, Part II

Look who's updating on time! This part was a little awkward to write, because I was worried about the tone. I hope it comes across right.

So, anyway, quick personal note: as some of you might know, I've mentioned a very important exam in the past. It will be this upcoming Saturday, so, please, wish me luck, pray for me, send good vibes, or pretty much anything you can. I've studied a lot, but there is a part of the exam that is entirely dependent on luck, and there's nothing I can do to prepare for that. This is very important to me, as ranking in the top 2% of participants will mean getting a good, stable job.. If I fail, I will have to wait until next year to try again.

* * *

 **On the Way to Hell, Part II**

One of their ships, alongside five of their allied crews, had agreed to stay underwater around Sabaody to keep watch over the ship up at the archipelago while it was coated again. Other ships would remain spread out across the path between Sabaody and Impel Down to monitor the marines' movements when the time for the attack came. They had chosen a small but deliberate amount of ships to execute the actual assault on Impel Down, because the waters surrounding the prison didn't have enough space to accommodate their entire fleet. And, anyway, given Impel Down's layout, a small number of fighters would be able to advance much more easily inside the building than the entirety of their forces.

However, a downside to this plan was that their small fleet would reach Impel Down a few hours after Pops did. The submarine of the rookie crew Pops had recruited for the trip was faster than coated ships moved by dials, and Ace's little brother had refused to wait even a few extra hours. It would be up to Pops to block the Gates of Justice to delay the marines' arrival in case it was necessary.

Not that Jozu _didn't_ trust in Pops' skills, even more so now that he had somehow secured Rayleigh's participation in the attack. Nobody had any idea how Pops had pulled _that_ off, but they weren't complaining.

Fossa had just called from the ship at Sabaody to inform that an empty crate had appeared in Pops' place, and now Jozu was waiting for a call from the Heart Pirates to ensure everything had gone according to plan.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the den den mushi woke up with an incoming call.

"Yeah?" Jozu asked, picking up the speaker.

The den den mushi didn't take on Pops' familiar caller appearance. Instead, what looked like an upside-down banana peel appeared on top of the snail's head. Jozu almost dropped the speaker.

"Hi," a voice Jozu hadn't heard in years, _save for yesterday_ , spoke, "the old man's here."

"…Marco?" Jozu asked hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah," Marco replied, now hesitant as well. "You know… knew me?" he asked, and he sounded as if he didn't know if he even wanted to ask the question.

For the first time Jozu realized that this must be more awkward for Marco than for anyone else. How would he react? Jozu honestly had no idea. He tried not to remember the jokes about the phoenix devil fruit from so long ago, Marco's even less than anyone else's.

"Yeah. Name's Jozu."

"…Oh. That Jozu? Okay."

There was an awkward silence. Jozu didn't want to end the conversation.

"How'd you get roped into calling?"

Marco snorted. Good, that was much more like the brother Jozu remembered.

"The old man's getting a full checkup," Marco started to explain, and Jozu felt something sappily fuzzy take over him upon hearing those words. He remembered well how Marco used to call Pops 'old man' at first. "Your nurses asked for it. Rayleigh's watching the show and laughing his ass off, and Luffy is pestering a polar bear, so that left me."

Well, that made sense. Except for the polar bear comment, but Jozu wasn't sure he wanted to know what Marco meant by that. This was Ace's baby brother they were talking about, after all, and Jozu had heard _stories_ about the brat.

"Okay. We'll be following you guys and monitoring the marines as best as we can. It shouldn't take us more than three hours to catch up," Jozu explained, as if it hadn't been discussed in detail yesterday. "Tell Pops that the nurses want him to take all his meds. They're threatening to go over there if he doesn't."

Marco snorted again.

"Yeah, Shakky told me something like that. I got it covered."

"Thanks," Jozu said, and paused. "Marco? I'm glad to hear from you."


	30. On the Way to Hell, Part III

**On the Way to Hell, Part III**

The trip to Impel Down was proving to be surprisingly uneventful.

Most of the Heart Pirates had shown some degree of awe or nervousness around Whitebeard and Rayleigh at first, but they'd gotten over it quickly enough. Luffy had decided that, because they had agreed to help them reach Impel Down, the Heart Pirates were now his friends, and he was spending a considerable amount of time chatting with them. He seemed to have grown particularly fond of Law, who looked between exasperated and amused by Luffy, depending on the situation. Whitebeard was being, in Rayleigh's words, "surprisingly obedient" about his medication and pre-battle treatment, and he spent a good part of his time on the den den mushi with his crew, hashing out the details of the attack. Rayleigh, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten over his first reaction upon learning that Ace was Roger's son (Marco was still processing that one, because what were the odds?) and was pretty relaxed, drinking and coaxing the Heart Pirates into card games that looked more like cheating competitions in Marco's opinion.

Marco had actually been playing with them until not so long ago, but so was Luffy, and Marco was unable to keep a straight face around Luffy's abysmal playing skills for long, so he had left. It was a pity, because Rayleigh had some pretty amazing tricks up his sleeves. Sometimes literally. Nami would no doubt love the chance to receive a lesson or two from him.

Marco walked over to a corner table in the relatively large mess hall, where Law was looking over the map Shakky had provided them of the area that surrounded Impel Down. He had the box full of den den mushis he had asked them to bring —for an undisclosed reason— sitting next to him on the table.

"You know," Law said when Marco sat next to him, not bothering to raise his head, "I'd say I'm shocked that level six actually exists, but I can't find it in myself to be. It's a pity there are no maps, though," he added, pointing at the papers Shakky had sent along. She only had maps down to level three, and they hadn't had a chance to see if they could find any of the remaining levels. It hadn't been worth the risk of alerting the marines anyway.

"Do you _need_ a map?" Marco asked, because Law hadn't brought it up when he had talked to Shakky.

"Not necessarily. That's why I have these," Law said, pointing at the den den mushis with a thumb.

Marco wasn't sure he wanted to know. He knew this plan, whatever the details were, qualified as suicidal by most people's standards. At some point he would have cared, but he had been a member of the Strawhat Pirates long enough to have developed an incredibly high tolerance for potentially suicidal stunts.

That was unavoidable when you followed Monkey D. Luffy; you either adapted or you wouldn't survive.

Luffy burst out laughing at the other end of the room. He had his hands full of cards, and Marco was willing to bet he had lost. Again.


	31. On the Way to Hell, Part IV

**On the Way to Hell, Part IV**

The med bay was silent now that almost everybody had gone to sleep.

Newgate was supposed to be asleep, too, but he found himself unable to do so. They would reach Impel Down tomorrow, and, despite his many years at sea doing things that were supposed to be impossible, Newgate was nervous.

He didn't doubt his crew's capacity to take over Impel Down once they arrived, no matter how impenetrable the prison was supposed to be, but he worried. Ace's life was on the line; they didn't have an absolutely safe way to reach him, and they didn't know the state they would find him in. And it wasn't just Ace's life on the line. Marco was here, without haki or years of experience fighting under his belt. Luffy was here too, and Newgate knew Ace would revert to his murderous phase if anything happened to him. Jinbe was being held somewhere in the prison as well, and that was a mess all on its own. They didn't know which marines were guarding the prison, only that Garp, Sengoku, and the admirals weren't amongst them…

Damn, the only person Newgate felt safe not worrying about was Rayleigh.

"I can hear you thinking from here." Speak of the devil.

"Weren't you asleep?" Newgate asked, careful to keep his voice down.

"I was. Then I woke up and saw you fretting."

Newgate opened his mouth to argue that he wasn't _fretting_ , but he didn't bother. He was, and they both knew it.

"Can you blame me?" he asked instead.

"I got their backs too, you know," Rayleigh said.

"Yeah." Of course he knew, and that brought him a level of comfort. Still, some things were hard to forget, and in the dead of night was when negative thoughts became the most vicious.

"Meaaat…" Luffy mumbled suddenly in his sleep, and Newgate snorted in surprised amusement. A twin snort told him Rayleigh had heard Luffy as well.

"At least he's got that part covered to be Pirate King," Newgate said.

Rayleigh burst out laughing, waking up both Luffy and Marco. Newgate felt bad for a total of ten seconds, the time it took for Luffy to decide he could have a midnight snack now that he was awake.

It was hard to dwell on glum thoughts when Luffy darted out of the med bay yelling for food, Marco rolling his eyes and following him at a more sedate pace.

Rayleigh laughed again.

"I think you owe the Heart Pirates a few million beli in food," he said in amusement.

"Why me? Let the brat pay for his own food."

"Oh, come on, the kid's part of your family by proxy. Twice."

Newgate had to concede the point. It seemed he had a new black hole of a brat to care about.


	32. On the Way to Hell, Part V

**On the Way to Hell, Part V**

The Tenryuubito's fancy Holy Land was supposed to be the most protected place in the world, and yet Teach found it ridiculously easy to sneak around the city unnoticed. Being a Shichibukai (and drowning in darkness anyone who spotted him) was extremely useful.

He'd feigned indifference and nonchalance last night when he'd learned of Whitebeard's movements over the past week, but privately something hadn't added up. It wasn't anything like Whitebeard to sneak into Paradise on his own in the middle of preparing for war, nor was it to go up against an admiral for apparently no reason. Though Teach knew better: Monkey D. Luffy was Ace's little brother, and Whitebeard was enough of a sentimental fool to actually look after the brat if he had the chance.

That still didn't explain his presence at Sabaody in the first place.

Unless there was a bigger plan.

Whitebeard was supposed to go to war as some grandstanding show of power, but perhaps he had changed his mind? Teach remembered well that stupid story about the Whitebeard Pîrates' dead first mate; he'd kind of grown sick of hearing it, and once the thought that perhaps Whitebeard didn't want to risk Ace so much out of some sentimental stupidity had crossed his mind, Teach had been unable to dismiss it.

So he'd called Laffite.

Laffite had assured him they could be in and out of Impel Down before Whitebeard's ships —coated or not— made it there.

It wasn't ideal; Teach would lose his position as a Shichibukai the moment the World Government caught wind of his actions, but the government wouldn't be able to send reinforcements to the prison out of fear of Whitebeard's imminent attack anyway.

If Teach's suspicion turned out to be right, then sticking around longer would be useless. If he was wrong… well, they could still sneak into Marineford and kill Whitebeard when the opportunity arose. They had to wait for the marines to beat him up a lot beforehand if they hoped to succeed.

Who knew, maybe Teach would offer Ace the chance to join his crew again while he was in the prison.


	33. The Eternal Hell, Part I

My writing tumblr (maisstories dot tumblr dot com) has reached 700 followers! As such, I am celebrating it by having a fanfiction giveaway! You will find all the information on how to participate in this post: maisstories dot tumblr dot com/post/189023196706/mai-kusakabes-700-followers-fanfiction-giveaway

* * *

 **The Eternal Hell, Part I**

They had entered the Calm Belt. With that announcement, the atmosphere in the submarine sobered up considerably.

They were here.

Marco leaned close to one of the portholes, watching the looming form of the underwater prison as they approached it across the sea bottom. There was no visible security. Then again, the prison didn't need it; Marco could see many sea kings around the area.

"Will you guys be able to get away from here?" he asked Bepo, suddenly worried. The prison was surrounded by more sea kings than he had expected.

"Yeah, sure."

"We could always knock them all out," Rayleigh said from next to Marco.

"You mean like what you did at the auction house? Would it work on them?"

"Of course it would. Combine that with Whitebeard and we could knock out or at least scare off every sea king in a ten mile radius around here."

"Huh. Useful."

The submarine advanced, unnoticed or perhaps avoided by the sea kings, until it was almost brushing the bottommost wall of the prison. It was then that Law stood up and approached the wall with the crate of den den mushis.

The den den mushis, as it turned out, were meant for Law to switch them with random objects inside the prison. Marco hadn't noticed the screen set up on a nearby table until it came to life.

Law didn't find anything to switch in his first two attempts, but they were circling the prison and on the third one his technique, _Scan_ , found something.

A metal bar landed on the floor where a den den mushi had been, and the screen showed what appeared to be an empty hallway with no distinctive markings or doors in sight.

Law retrieved the den den mushi, which didn't look all that pleased by the experience.

They continued. If at all possible, they would prefer to find an area with some indications of where the cells were located, or even if this was truly level six.

A creepy smirk took over Law's face on his fifth scan of the prison.

"Oh, look at that," he said and moved his fingers.

A very disconcerted Impel Down guard appeared where the current den den mushi had been set. He blinked, took in the people around him, and paled, his eyes fixated on Whitebeard.

Rayleigh was the one to speak. He wrapped an arm around the guard's shoulders, a very easygoing smile on his face.

"Hi there. Are you from level six?"

The guard turned his head jerkily to look at Rayleigh. He didn't seem to recognize him.

* * *

Fifteen minutes and an unconscious and considerably less hygienic guard later, the submarine floated before the section of the wall that, according to their recently acquired information, separated them from the control room of level six.

They had weighed the option of looking for a storage space of some sort, but in the end, the surprise element and the potential of isolating level six from the rest of the prison had won out.

Before they went, Rayleigh used that weird power of his again, making all the visible sea kings flee the area.

"Try not to die, Strawhat," Law told Luffy before he exchanged all four of them with guards stationed in the control room.

Marco almost felt sorry for those guards.

Almost.


	34. The Eternal Hell, Part II

**The Eternal Hell, Part II**

Jinbe opened his eyes to the gloomy darkness that passed for illumination in level six of Impel Down. He hadn't slept much, just taken a short nap when his body's protests had become too much for him to remain conscious. It was something both he and Ace had come to do in the time they had shared this cell, falling asleep for short periods of time when they couldn't take it anymore. Never at the same time, because no matter how powerless they were right now, they still felt the need to watch each other's backs.

And the World Government expected Jinbe to fight to ensure that Ace died? Even if the war hadn't been against the Whitebeard Pirates, Jinbe would have refused. He'd never sacrifice a friend to ensure his own wellbeing.

"Morning," Ace told him from his end of the cell. "Or whatever time it is," he added, and somehow managed a grin, even if it wasn't a very bright one. He was still bloodied and battered from his fight with that scumbag, Teach. Jinbe's blood boiled whenever he looked at those wounds.

Jinbe looked at him again, at that disturbingly calm face. Because, much to Jinbe's shock and horror, Ace had accepted his upcoming death. Jinbe had expected to find him spitting mad and defiant when he'd been dragged here —that was the Ace he knew, the one who'd fought him for five days before trying to take Pops' head— and instead he'd found Ace quiet.

Hell, Ace had even _chided_ Jinbe for his refusal to fight at the war. Ace had said that Jinbe didn't have to actually _hurt_ anyone if there was a fight — _if!_ As though he wasn't sure there would be one— and had called Jinbe stubborn for refusing the summons and getting himself imprisoned.

Damn, Jinbe had wanted to punch him then.

Something crashed in the distance, and then the entirety of the prison area was _shaking_ as though something was rocking it. If not for the chains holding him to the wall, Jinbe would have fallen to the floor.

"What the—?" he began, his voice drowned out by those of the other prisoners.

Then, an indistinct yell reached his ears above the ruckus. It grew clearer as it got louder, but made no sense at the same time.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Something — _someone_ — crashed into the closed wrought kairoseki gate that separated the cells from the hallway beyond and fell to the ground. It was a person. A small, living person that stayed dark and unfocused in the dimness.

Level six had gone deathly silent.

The yell finally made sense.

Jinbe, his eyes blown wide open, turned to look at Ace.

Ace, whose skin had gone ashen, his hands clinging to the chains holding him hard enough that they were shaking, and who had a completely disbelieving expression on his face.

A laugh boomed through the cavernous area. A loud, very characteristic laugh that Jinbe would recognize anywhere.

 _It can't be—_

Those doors made a horrid, screeching sound whenever they were opened, and that sound stirred level six back to life.

Because the Great Pirate Whitebeard was here, and over half of the prisoners in level six wished to see him dead. The noise —the yells, the insults, the threats— drowned any words Jinbe might have spoken. To Ace, or to Whitebeard, he couldn't say.

He could just stare in utter bewilderment as that same tiny figure from before darted into the cell area as soon as the doors were open. A second one followed and grabbed the first one by the back of what Jinbe realized was a shirt. They came to a halt in one of the brightest areas of the level, revealing that they were nothing more than two human boys Jinbe had never seen before. Two human boys that were arguing; the second one was trying to hold back the squirming first one.

Then it was Whitebeard, _really Whitebeard_ , who walked in. He glanced around with that unimpressed expression Jinbe had seen often enough on his face, and punched the air. The shockwave, mild enough to keep the prison's structure intact, was sufficient to send nearly everybody crashing to their backs, silencing them. Jinbe noticed Whitebeard hadn't hit the kids.

"Will you calm down, brat? You'll knock yourself out if you run into another kairoseki cage," Whitebeard said, presumably to the first kid. He then looked behind himself, back to the open door. "Now, where are those keys, Rayleigh?"


	35. The Eternal Hell, Part III

Hi, guys. Happy New Year!

I apologize for the delay with this chapter, but there have been some developments in my life. First of all, I hate the holidays, and getting a cold on top of them is not fun.

That said, updates for this story will be spaced out to one every two weeks until early-February (the three week delay is entirely due to the season). Why, you might ask. Well, remember me whining about an exam a while back? Results took forever to come out, but they finally did and I PASSED! The second exam is on February 9th, meaning I won't have much free time to write until after that date. Unfortunately, I am almost caught up with the chapters I have written for this story, and if I kept to my normal update schedule while I couldn't write, then I would catch up to what I have written. So I'm spacing updates out and planning on a writing spree after the exam.

* * *

 **The Eternal Hell, Part III**

Whitebeard's question rebounded throughout level six, and Rayleigh walked out of the shadows of the hallway to find himself the subject of the disbelieving stares from everyone who was in a position to see him. There were shocked mutterings, but the volume didn't rise again. Whether the prisoners were too shocked to see him alive despite the rumors of his crew's destruction, or if it was because he was working with his alleged mortal enemy Whitebeard, Rayleigh didn't care enough to find out.

He pulled the keys out of his pocket, and searched for the right number as he walked to one of the few cells on ground level. From that cell, Portgas D. Ace and the Knight of the Sea, Jinbe, watched him in silence. Jinbe's presence here spared them the effort of looking for him elsewhere.

Rayleigh very deliberately forced his thoughts away from Ace. Not now, not while he was still in that cage and held in chains. And definitely not with such a vicious and hateful audience as the prisoners in level six.

"Here we go," Rayleigh said, opening the door with the ease of someone who wasn't a devil fruit user.

The moment the door was open, Luffy pushed past him into the cell.

"Ace!" Luffy called, dropping to his knees next to Ace. He immediately fell over due to the kairoseki chains he'd inadvertently touched. He groaned something unintelligible.

"…Luffy?" Ace asked, his voice hoarse in what Rayleigh was sure had to be disbelief.

Sighing, Rayleigh walked in and pulled Luffy off Ace.

"Don't touch anything," he told Luffy before he turned to kneel himself and started removing the many chains that held Ace in place.

The marines, no, the World Government, were a bunch of absolute assholes. They hadn't even bothered to treat Ace's wounds. Some of them appeared to be infected.

"Pops?" Ace spoke again, head turned to where Whitebeard was crouched outside of the cell. "What the hell?" he asked, and his eyes darted between Whitebeard and Luffy.

Rayleigh lowered Ace's right arm carefully before moving to free his left one. He didn't want to know how those muscles were feeling after who knew how long of being forced into that position.

He didn't need to turn to know Whitebeard had to be smiling.

"You didn't expect we'd abandon you, did you, son?" Whitebeard asked. From Ace's shock, Rayleigh had the sinking suspicion that it was exactly what Ace had expected. Or, perhaps even worse, _hoped_.

"But—" Ace started. He shut up, and his shoulders tensed.

Rayleigh focused on the damn cuff.

"And, really, Jinbe? You should've gone to war," Whitebeard continued, no reproach in his voice despite his words.

Rayleigh lowered Ace's left arm. There were still a lot of chains holding his feet and torso in place.

Jinbe groaned.

"Not you too," he said almost plaintively.


	36. The Eternal Hell, Part IV

Hello! Before we go on with this chapter, I'd like to announce/promote something. So, because I can't help myself, I have made an Ace-centric event for February 15th (my exam's on the 9th, so no worries there). I'd like it if you could check it out and share the post, and I encourage you to join in :D Here's the link:

in-memoriam-one-piece dot tumblr dot com/post/190325430642/in-memoriam-an-one-piece-event

That said, and rather fittingly, here is the first chapter we have from Ace's POV in this story.

* * *

 **The Eternal Hell, Part IV**

Ace wasn't sure he was awake. In fact, he kind of desperately hoped he _wasn't_.

Pops was here, crouching outside the cell to have a good line of sight of Ace and Jinbe. He looked pleased, and damn it all if that wasn't utter relief on his face. Ace felt like a complete scumbag for wishing Pops wouldn't show up. Hell, he felt like a complete scumbag for ignoring Pops' orders and going after that traitor Teach.

Luffy was all but bouncing on his heels, held in place by a vaguely-familiar guy who'd placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder. Luffy's grin was so wide it was hard to look at, and the feeling of guilt in Ace's gut intensified. What would have happened? Would Luffy have learned of Ace's execution through an impersonal, propaganda-riddled article on the newspaper? What would that have _done_ to Luffy?

And Silvers Rayleigh was unchaining him. Ace wasn't daft; he'd studied the Roger Pirates as a kid, trying to understand why his existence was such a sin, and he'd heard Pops. _That_ was a mess he couldn't allow himself to think about. Not now, not when these people —even Jinbe, noble idiot that he was— were risking their lives to save his worthless ass.

He just hoped Luffy hadn't been the one to plan this thing. Hell, he hoped Pops had his entire fleet outside ready to whisk them away before the marines showed up.

Once the chains were off, Ace flexed his arms experimentally. Damn, but they _hurt_.

Rayleigh threw the chains to the other end of the cell and moved to release Jinbe without a word. Ace wondered how Pops had convinced a guy who'd been thought dead for twenty years to join him.

He didn't like the explanation that came to mind.

"You okay, Ace?" Luffy, now crouching next to him, asked. His grin was mixed with some worry, and Ace belatedly realized he had grimaced.

"Yeah. Just a bit sore."

"Like hell you are," an unknown voice replied, and Ace turned to see the other guy kneeling before him with a small bag by his side. With a closer look, Ace realized why he looked familiar: he was one of Luffy's crewmembers —he had been there at Alabasta, and Ace recalled a pretty high bounty right after the Enies Lobby fiasco— but Ace didn't remember the guy's name.

Ace opened his mouth to argue that he _was_ fine, but Pops gave him a warning look from outside the cell. Damn, it was hard to oppose the father figure you had just disappointed so thoroughly.

"Guess I've been better," Ace conceded begrudgingly.

Luffy's crewmember opened the bag and started to pull out some basic medical stuff.

"I'm no doctor, but I can do first aid," he explained, reaching for a small bottle.

It may have been the poor lighting, but Ace could swear Pops gave the guy an odd look.

"What's your name? Afraid I didn't catch it," Ace asked, finally remembering the manners Makino had drilled into him.

"Marco."

Oh, right. Marco the Phoenix. He remembered reading it now. It had caught Ace's attention, for some reason, before Banaro.

"He could kick your ass," Luffy said out of nowhere with a wide grin, and Ace realized with a jolt he was addressing _him_.

Ace glared at Luffy.

"Like _you_ could beat me at Alabasta?"

Luffy laughed.

"Nah. He _really_ could kick your ass."

Before Ace could do anything, like catching Luffy in a headlock, Marco poked Luffy with the pointy end of a pair of small scissors.

"Don't go pitching me up against monster Yonko crewmembers," he admonished Luffy, an amused quality to his voice.

Behind them, Pops chuckled. There was also another chuckle from the side that might have been Rayleigh, but Ace refused to look.

"Why not?" Luffy asked, a disconcerting earnestness to his voice. "I'm pretty sure he couldn't beat you."

Ace was about to be offended, _very offended_ , when he noticed the pensive look on Pops' face.

"Now that'd be interesting," Pops mused out loud, throwing Ace off completely.

 _Pops_ thought Ace might lose against Marco? What the _hell_ was he missing here?

Ace met Marco's eyes, his face serious and feeling determined for the first time since Banaro.

"You up for it? I'm gonna make them eat those words."

Instead of being intimidated or worried, Marco _smirked at him_.

"Perhaps you'll eat yours."


	37. The Eternal Hell, Part V

Hi!

I apologize for the slight delay with this update, but my computer screen broke some days ago and the delivery company decided to send the new one to accompany Odysseus on his trip before finally bringing it to my house.

My exam is this coming Sunday, and I am very nervous because the time allotted to complete it is by no means enough to do everything they ask for (which is actually an intentional choice on the examiners' part to keep the slowest people out) and I'm terrified I'll be too slow and then have to go through this whole process again next year. Wish me luck, please.

* * *

 **The Eternal Hell, Part V**

Many people would see it as a failing on his part, but Newgate was immensely pleased to watch Ace and Marco agree on a friendly match at some point, an agreement Newgate had every intention of reminding them of. It would be good for both of them to train against each other, he was certain of it.

For now, however, they had to focus on getting out of Impel Down. There had already been a contingent of guards to be dealt with while Marco cleaned Ace's wounds, one Newgate had knocked out with a careless wave of haki before they could even exit the corridor they had been advancing through, and it was only a matter of time before more of them showed up. But he wasn't going to rush their departure, not when his children were injured.

Besides, it would be about an hour before his crew caught up to them. It was all part of the plan, but they needed to hold out in the prison for that long. Not that it would be a big issue.

Marco had finished cleaning and bandaging Ace's wounds, and now had moved on to do the same for Jinbe. Newgate had been shocked to hear that Marco wasn't a doctor, and watching him work it was clear he hadn't figured out all the properties of his devil fruit yet. Newgate would explain later, and he would help Marco master his powers as much as was possible, but bringing up the healing properties of Marco's devil fruit now would be more of a distraction than anything else, so Newgate stayed silent and just watched him work.

He turned to Rayleigh, now standing outside the cell with a pensive expression, eyes fixed on where Ace and Luffy were bickering about how Ace was perfectly fine and _of course_ he could beat all of Luffy's crew. Luffy was swinging from worried, to offended, to amused, and back to worried at an impressive speed.

"There," said Marco, drawing everyone's attention back to himself. He had finished bandaging Jinbe's shoulders and was putting what was left of the medical supplies away.

"Thank you," Jinbe said, polite as ever.

Marco just nodded and stood up.

"Well, then. Let's get out of here," Newgate said, to general approval and a few grins.

Luffy dashed out of the cell, followed closely by Ace. Marco shouldered his bag and went after them. Rayleigh laughed and muttered something about youth before moving towards the gate himself. Jinbe was giving Newgate an inquisitive look —Newgate could all but see the questions swimming in Jinbe's mind— but Newgate just shook his head, silently asking him to hold back his questions for later.

Out in the main cell area, the prisoners had grown rowdy again, and Newgate frowned when he realized many of their comments were insults directed at the kids. _His kids_. Glaring around, Newgate unleashed a wave of haki on his way out of the level, and was unsurprised when a second one joined his attack.

By the time he was out in the hallway, three fourths of the prisoners held in level six of Impel Down were unconscious.


	38. The Eternal Hell, Part VI

Hey, so, new chapter! :D

I'm afraid I'll keep to the slower updates for at least the remainder of this month. I need to write some more to give myself a buffer of chapters before I go back to posting weekly.

* * *

 **The Eternal Hell, Part VI**

As was his wont for most of his time awake, Magellan had been in the bathroom when Impel Down trembled as though shaken by a giant child playing house. He'd fallen off the toilet, melted a good part of the furniture, and hurried to get himself presentable.

When he stepped out of the bathroom —at a reasonable pace, for there was no reason to startle anyone— his men were already checking the screens and talking on their den den mushis, asking for the status of the entire prison.

Magellan had turned to the nearest officer to ask for an update when everything shook again. Guards lunged forward to catch equipment, while others moved out of the way of falling objects, or simply lost their balance, caught off guard by the sudden tremor. Magellan kept his footing, a grim feeling settling in his chest. In all his years in Impel Down, such a thing had never happened. The prison was too sturdy, too well built, to be affected by the creatures that lurked outside.

But for it to happen twice in a row? Something was very wrong.

"That came from below," he said, as much to himself as to his men. "Contact levels five and six. See what is happening there."

* * *

They had lost contact with level six. Level five had reported some disarray due to the tremors, but level six hadn't responded to the attempts at reaching them.

Magellan's first order was to send a contingent of level five guards to check what was happening. They lost contact with those guards not even ten minutes afterwards. So he ordered the activation of level six's special security measures.

The systems didn't respond.

Fearing the worst, Magellan ordered his men to contact Hannyabal, Sadie, and Saldeath.


End file.
